LUCKNOW, May 20: Just a day after polling ended in the Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today sacked SBSP leader Om Prakash Rajbhar from the Cabinet for his outbursts against senior NDA partner BJP.
Governor Ram Naik accepted the recommendation and relieved Rajbhar with immediate effect from his post of Backward Class Welfare and Divyangjan Empowerment Minister, an official spokesperson said here.
The CM also recommended to the Governor that all other Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) members holding the rank of Minister of State be removed immediately.
A recalcitrant Rajbhar appeared before the media soon afterward and “welcomed” the decision of the CM.
“I welcome the decision (to sack me). The decision taken by the Chief Minister was a delayed one,” Rajbhar said. “Had the decision been taken around 20 days ago, it would have been much better.”
“By taking the decision, he (Adityanath) has proved he does not endorse my war against poverty,” he told reporters, donning his traditional yellow scarf, associated with his party.
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) had won four seats in the 2017 UP Assembly elections.
The MoS removed from the post included Rangaram Rajbhar and Virendra Rajbhar, both members of UP Backward Class Commission; Sudama Rajbhar, a member of Uttar Pradesh Pashudhan Vikash Parishad; Arvind Rajbhar, the Chairman Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises department; Rana Ajit Pratap Singh, the Chairman-cum-Director UP Seeds Development Corporation, Sunil Arkwanshi and Radhika Patel, members of National Integration Council.
All of them enjoyed the rank and status of State Ministers.
The senior Rajbhar was shown the door for making controversial statements quite often against the saffron party, the latest being during the Lok Sabha election campaign when he said that BJP members should be “thrashed” with shoes.
He had recently sent a letter to the Chief Minister stating that he was resigning from the Cabinet. (PTI)
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