Rajbhar sees 'drama' in BJP lawmakers urging CM for dev works

In yet another controversial statement, senior UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar today termed as "drama" the act of four BJP lawmakers recently writing to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for launching developmental works in Badaun district.

Last month, led by BJP MLA Mahesh Chandra Gupta, two other MLAs and an MLC of the party had written a letter to the chief minister, urging him to launch development works in full swing in Badaun to break the hold of sitting Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav in the area.

They had cited the developmental works undertaken by Yadav during the SP regime, which, they claimed, had won over the constituents in the district.

Rajbhar's controversial comments against the BJP lawmakers follow his Sunday's remarks at a prohibition rally of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) in which he warned that those attending rallies of his political rivals will be "cursed" with jaundice.

Rajbhar, president of the SBSP, an NDA partner in the Yogi Adityanath-led government, also questioned the intent of the MLAs behind writing the letter.

"There are some people who have to do drama somehow ... These MLAs might not have been getting commission and contracts and so would have written letters to the Chief Minister," he told newspersons when asked to comment on the letter.

The MLAs and the MLC had also stressed that it is essential that major development works be undertaken in the district to break loyalty of the voters towards the SP MP.

Responding to another question, Rajbhar said it was the "overconfidence" which had led to BJP's defeat in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls and expressed hoped that now that the party has come "out of slumber", results in Kairana by-elections would be better.

At a party rally in Ballia on Sunday, Rajbhar had warned of cursing his supporters attending rallies of other parties without his permission.