Looking to regain lost ground in Purvanchal (east UP), which accounts for 160 of the state’s 403 assembly seats, the BJP is banking on its OBC allies—the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and the Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (Nishad) party—for the 2027 poll battle. The BJP suffered a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and failed to win seats in key districts of the region during the 2022 assembly polls. Its strategy now hinges on wooing OBC and Dalit voters in a region considered the Samajwadi Party’s stronghold.SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar addressing a public meeting in Azamgarh. (HT PHOTO)Two prominent OBC leaders of eastern UP—Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad and SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar—have been tasked with countering the SP’s PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) formula. The BJP is also working to ease internal rifts among its OBC leaders and allies. Recently, Om Prakash Rajbhar shared the dais with labour minister Anil Rajbhar at a programme chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CM Yogi Adityanath, state president Pankaj Chaudhary, and deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya represent the region.The BJP had swept Purvanchal in the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 assembly elections.But in 2022, the NDA failed to open its account in Azamgarh, Ambedkar Nagar, Ghazipur, and Kaushambi, and its performance was not up to the 2017 mark in Mau, Ballia, Jaunpur, Sultanpur, and Basti.Recently, both Rajbhar and Nishad met BJP national president Nitin Nabin in Delhi to discuss election strategy and the allies’ role.In addition to holding public meetings in SP strongholds, the two allies launched a strong offensive, alleging that several SP MPs were poised to defect to the NDA, a claim that forced SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to issue a rebuttal.Om Prakash Rajbhar has said the extremely backward communities, including Pal, Prajapati, Bind, Kewat, Dhobi, Maurya, Shakya, Mallah, Rajbhar, Nishad, Manjhi, Darzi, Teli, Fakir, Banshpore, Banjara and Dalits, are wary of the SP. “Other communities know that once the SP comes to power, Yadavs will be calling the shots in the government as well as in the organisation. The other communities will be sidelined,” he said.Rajbhar added that his community’s vote is decisive across eastern UP, noting that in nearly 100 constituencies, Rajbhar voters account for 12% to 22%.“The PDA formula of the SP is now limited to the Muslim-Yadav alliance,” he said.He also refuted allegations of a split in his party: “The SBSP contested the 2022 assembly election in alliance with the SP, but of the 17 seats allotted to it, several were contested by SP leaders. After the polls, the SP winners on SBSP tickets began moving with the SP flag on their vehicles. Of the six SBSP MLAs, only three have defected.”For his part, Sanjay Nishad said, “The party’s core riverine community base contributes 20,000 to 50,000 votes in several constituencies.”In 2022, the Nishad Party fielded candidates on 10 seats, winning six. Five others contested on BJP tickets, all victorious. Nishad stressed that the NDA government will fulfil the demand for SC status to 22 sub-castes of the riverine community. “An announcement on SC status will be made by the top BJP leadership before the assembly elections,” he said.Despite setbacks in 2024, Nishad insisted the NDA will bounce back in 2027.The SBSP and Nishad Party have also opened their doors to ‘bahubalis,’ with family members of Brijesh Singh, Dhananjay Singh and Amarmani Tripathi likely to contest on their tickets.Countering these claims, SP leader Rajendra Chaudhary said, “The OBC communities, including the Rajbhars and Nishads, are with the SP. Om Prakash Rajbhar and Sanjay Nishad will be rejected by their community. The SP will repeat its 2024 Lok Sabha performance in the 2027 assembly polls.”Political observer S.K. Srivastava noted, “The OBC shift to the SP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election dealt a major setback to the NDA. The BJP and its allies are now working to regain OBC and Dalit support. The upcoming assembly polls will see a fierce contest for the OBC vote between the NDA and the INDIA bloc.”