OP Rajbhar wants UP split into four; Ajay Rai slams his 'intellectual bankruptcy'

Asked about the Congress's position on dividing Uttar Pradesh, Ajay Rai said it was a policy matter and that he could comment only after consulting the party's national leadership.

In Short

• OP Rajbhar claims CM of proposed Purvanchal will be from his community
• Rai blames BJP alliance for inflation, unemployment, and law-and-order issues
• Division of UP not new demand, supported by various parties at different times

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai on Monday attacked Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar over his call to divide Uttar Pradesh into four states and his remarks about a member of the Rajbhar community becoming the Chief Minister of Purvanchal.

Addressing an SBSP rally in Deoria on Sunday, he said that if a separate Purvanchal state was created, “a Rajbhar’s son” would become its Chief Minister.

Responding to a question that characterised the remark as Rajbhar declaring himself future Chief Minister of the proposed state, Rai said the SBSP leader should first see whether he would be elected as an MLA or remain a minister.

Rai described Rajbhar’s remarks as a sign of “intellectual bankruptcy” and accused the BJP and its allies of trying to mislead voters.

“People are fed up with inflation, unemployment, corruption and the law-and-order situation,” Rai said, claiming that the ruling alliance would be voted out of power.

At the SBSP’s Samajik Samrasta Maha Rally, Rajbhar had said Uttar Pradesh would be divided into four states after the completion of a caste census. He claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him that the division could take place after the caste count.

“The state will be divided into four parts. On the day Purvanchal is formed, if the Chief Minister is to be from any caste, then a Rajbhar’s son will become the Chief Minister,” he told the gathering.

Asked about the Congress’s position on dividing Uttar Pradesh, Rai said it was a policy matter and that he could comment only after consulting the party’s national leadership.

“If a minister is making such a statement, the matter must have been discussed in the state Cabinet. Whether you divide the state into four, six or eight parts, people are tired of you,” he said.

The demand to divide Uttar Pradesh is not new. In 2011, the Mayawati government sent a proposal to the Centre to split the state into Purvanchal, Paschim Pradesh, Awadh Pradesh and Bundelkhand.

The Congress and several other parties have also supported demands for reorganising the state at different points.

- Ends
(With inputs from Roushan Kumar)