SBSP chief OP Rajbhar meets UP BJP president Swatantra Dev, sets political circle abuzz

LUCKNOW: Former BJP ally-turned-rival and SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Tuesday sprung a surprise when he met UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh at the latter's residence, triggering fresh speculations of him warming up back to the saffron party in the run up to the high stake UP assembly elections due next year.
When contacted, Singh told TOI that it was just a courtesy meeting with Rajbhar with no political agenda. "We simply met cordially and chatted," Singh said, refusing to divulge any further details.
Highly placed sources in the BJP, however, said that Rajbhar seemed to get the raw pulse of the BJP which has been deftly ignoring him despite his consistent hard stance of sabotaging saffron party's ambition of returning to office after the 2022 state elections.
Left politically forlorn after his break up with the BJP almost two years ago, Rajbhar has been oscillating between various political parties, including Asaddun Owaisi led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen to firm up a front that could potentially challenge the might of BJP.
The meeting between UP BJP chief and Rajbhar was catalysed by BJP state vice-president Daya Shankar Singh. Sources said that Daya Shankar called up Rajbhar -- both happen to be residents of Ballia -- on Monday late evening asking him to meet Swatantra Dev. Confirming this, Rajbhar said that he and Swatantra Dev just discussed the activities of their respective political parties.