Om Prakash Rajbhar old friend, BJP has space for him: UP BJP chief

Om Prakash Rajbhar is not "untouchable" for BJP, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, the party president for Uttar Pradesh, has said.

Chaudhary's remark comes in the backdrop of a recent meeting between Rajbhar, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party Chief, and Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak in Lucknow.

"No one is untouchable for BJP. Whoever agrees with the views of the BJP, the party is ready to take him with it. BJP is a big ocean. Rajbhar is our old friend," Chaudhary told reporters on Wednesday, responding to BJP's prospects of an alliance with Omprakash Rajbhar's party.

Rajbhar had fought the last assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with the Samajwadi Party, but later parted ways. Since then his party's stand toward BJP has softened.

SBSP had fought the 2017 assembly elections in alliance with the BJP.

Rajbhar was made a cabinet minister when the government was formed. He however had broken ties with the alliance later.

Chaudhary claimed that BJP will win all 80 seats in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

He also said that the state's urban body elections can be held in April-May.

The Allahabad High Court had recently ordered the government to conduct civic polls in the state without reservation for OBCs, although the government challenged it in the Supreme Court, which stayed the High Court order.

The SC said that the matter has to be decided by a government-appointed panel within three months.

The elections to the urban bodies in the state were to be held in November-December last year.