Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh politics has witnessed an aggressive escalation as State Cabinet Minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar reiterated his claim that a major vertical split in the Samajwadi Party is completely inevitable. Rajbhar advised the opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav to stop social media politics and instead launch a campaign titled Save Our MPs to prevent widespread defections. The statement has triggered a fierce war of words between the ruling alliance and the opposition camp as parties prepare for the upcoming assembly elections.
The ruling coalition leader claimed that senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and submitted a secret letter containing a list of parliamentarians willing to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. According to Rajbhar, the opposition camp is experiencing severe anxiety because central investigative agencies are tightening the noose around previous corruption cases, specifically the mining scandal and the Gomti riverfront project. He alleged that senior opposition figures are trying to strike deals with the central government to protect themselves from impending legal action.
Adding further ammunition to his claims, the minister asserted that a rebel faction of dissident parliamentarians is already taking shape under a prominent leader from Ballia. Rajbhar stated that internal resentment peaked after an event at the opposition headquarters deeply insulted the Brahmin community under the guise of a political conference. He added that while the plan for a political realignment was already underway, this internal cultural friction has acted as fuel to the fire, making the disintegration of the party certain.
The opposition has strongly refuted these allegations, calling them a deliberate attempt to spread rumors and distract from the failures of the state administration. Dismissing the claims as entirely baseless, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav hit back by suggesting that Rajbhar should focus on his own alliance equations instead of predicting opposition collapses. Yadav claimed that those spreading such rumors are facing local public anger after collecting advance payments from aspiring election candidates on false promises of ticket distribution. Senior leader Ram Gopal Yadav also rejected the claim, stating that no one in the country takes the minister seriously.
Meanwhile, senior leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party have lent weight to the defection rumors. State Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya publicly claimed that around twenty five parliamentarians from the opposition fold are ready to break away on their own before the crucial assembly elections. While the opposition camp stands firm on its internal unity following its strong performance in the recent national elections, the growing political bickering highlights a highly volatile atmosphere in the state where narrative building has taken center stage.