Om Prakash Rajbhar led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) on Sunday formally joined the BJP led NDA.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a tweet has welcomed Rajbhar and his party in the NDA.
“Met Shri @oprajbhar ji in Delhi & decided to join NDA alliance led by Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji. I welcome him to the NDA family,” Shah said in his tweet.
He further said: “The arrival of Rajbhar ji will strengthen the NDA in Uttar Pradesh and under the leadership of Modi ji, the efforts being made by the NDA for the welfare of the poor and the deprived will get more strength.”
Meanwhile, Rajbhar also announced his party’s decision to join NDA in Lucknow too. He hinted that SBSP will also join the UP government soon.
In his tweet, Rajbhar said: “Bharatiya Janata Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party will fight together for the protection of social justice, the country’s security, good governance, work for deprived, oppressed, backward, Dalits, women, farmers, youth and every weaker classes.”
The SBSP has six MLAs in UP assembly after they contested the 2022 assembly polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s jailed son Abbas too is an MLA of SBSP.
Rajbhar was a Cabinet Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in his first regime but parted ways before 2019 Lok sabha polls on differences over seat sharing.