The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which is part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh, has decided to fight the Gujarat elections independently.
Earlier, BJP ally in Bihar Janata Dal (United) led by Nitesh Kumar decided to go solo and has fielded its candidates in bout 100 segments in Gujarat.
Also, the Shiv Sena announced to field its candidates in Marathi-speaking belt along the state’s Maharashtra border, thus cutting into the core Hindutva vote bank which is common for both the parties.
The SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar on Tuesday announced that his party will go solo and field its candidates on three seats in the upcoming Gujarat elections. The party had earlier announced that it may fight on 12 seats.
Rajbhar, who is a minister in the Adityanath cabinet, said the decision to go solo will not affect his party’s understanding with the BJP in UP, where Rajbhar. Rajbhar also declared to contest the ongoing UP civic polls alone.
Rajbhar said his party will perform much better in the UP civic polls compared to it did in 2012.
The SBSP in UP Assembly Elections 2017 had fought alongside BJP and Apna Dal (S) and its candidates had won four seats out of the eight that the party contested.