SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar says he will contest BMC polls in alliance with Shiv Sena

Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said he will contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections in Maharashtra in alliance with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). He said he met Thackeray in Mumbai two days ago.

The meeting, which lasted for about one-and-a-half hours, was positive. Discussions were held with Thackeray regarding the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections to be held in Maharashtra, Rajbhar told PTI. 

He claimed that Thackeray agreed to contest the polls in alliance with the SBSP. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has 227 seats. It is currently under an administrator as the five-year term of its elected representatives ended early last year and fresh polls are due.

Asked whether he would forge an alliance with the Shiv Sena for elections in Uttar Pradesh, Rajbhar said the Shiv Sena has no party base in the northern state.

On the controversy regarding Ramcharitmanas, the SBSP president exuded confidence that the Samajwadi Party (SP) will not gain anything from the row.

The Samajwadi Party will not get anything through Swami Prasad Maurya. Maurya is not a mass leader. Had he been so, he would not have tasted defeat in the assembly elections, he claimed.

SP leader Maurya kicked up a controversy recently by alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas “insult” a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be banned.