Biggest loser in Ghosi bypoll is Om Prakash Rajbhar

Lucknow : The Samajwadi Party has won the Ghosi Assembly seat and the BJP has lost it but the biggest loser in this bypoll is the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president, Om Prakash Rajbhar.

Rajbhar and his over-the-top statements during the campaign are now being blamed for the poor show of the BJP in the bypoll.

Rajbhar, who had claimed that Ghosi was his bastion and he could turn tables in the constituency without any effort, had completely taken over the campaign in the by-election. Sanjay Nishad, another BJP ally, even advised Rajbhar to exercise restraint while speaking.

According to local BJP leader, Rajbhar antagonised the Yadav community in Ghosi when he declared that the brain of Yadavs begins working only after noon. He also vowed to send Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav ‘packing to Etawah’.

“Rajbhar kept repeating this and it was only natural that Yadavs felt insulted. In a similar manner, he targeted other OBC communities on different occasions. Surprisingly, the BJP leaders did not bother to check Rajbhar’s venomous speeches and nor did they try to assuage the feelings of voters who believed that what Rajbhar said had the sanction of the BJP.

"After a point, even the party workers either receded into their homes or quietly shifted loyalties to the SP candidate,” said a senior party worker, who requested anonymity.

Rajbhar also managed to rub the 90,000 Muslim voters in the constituency the wrong way by claiming that his party MLA Abbas Ansari -- son of Mukhtar Ansari -- was ‘forced upon me by Akhilesh Yadav’.

“The voters in Ghosi were apparently disgusted with turncoats -- be it Om Prakash Rajbhar or BJP candidate Dara Singh Chauhan. Rajbhar has moved from BJP to SP and back again to BJP, hurling accusations at both parties.

"Dara Singh Chauhan also left the BJP to join SP and after he won the 2022 Assembly polls in SP, he quit to join the BJP again. Both the leaders have lost their credibility and their hate speeches made things worse,” admitted a BJP leader.

A question mark now hangs over the future of Om Prakash Rajbhar who may not get a ministerial position for himself and a seat for his son Arun Rajbhar in the Vidhan Parishad.

"There is no doubt that Rajbhar has done maximum damage to the BJP in Ghosi and it is up to the party leadership to take a call on this,” said a senior minister in the Yogi government.