Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has called for a separate Purvanchal state and said UP could eventually be divided into four parts. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief also claimed his son would become the first chief minister of Purvanchal if it gets statehood.
Speaking at his party’s ‘Samajik Samrasta Rally’ (social harmony rally) in Deoria on Sunday (September 20), he said he expects the division of Uttar Pradesh in the coming years. He told the prime minister that he wanted the 27% reservation to provide a greater share to communities that have got fewer benefits, according to him. The statement comes at a time when political parties in the state are preparing for the 2027 assembly election.
He then said his demand for a separate Purvanchal state would also open the way for his son to become its chief minister. “The day Purvanchal becomes a separate state, if the first chief minister is to come from a particular community, it will be a Rajbhar, my son, who will become the chief minister,” he said. Rajbhar also referred to a meeting he said he had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the reservation issue. He further said PM Modi suggested caste enumeration as a way forward.
“I will conduct a caste-based census. Once the castes have been counted, there will be no difficulty in deciding how the reservation should be divided,” he quoted the prime minister as saying. Rajbhar’s SBSP is part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Allianc (NDA) in the state. During the Deoria rally, he also attacked the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress over their record on representation of backward communities.
He has previously declared that his party will once again contest the upcoming poll with the BJP. He questioned the share of benefits received by different OBC groups and accused earlier governments of failing to provide adequate representation.
