New Delhi/Lucknow: After Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, his NDA colleague and Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday reiterated that the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party is headed for a split. Hitting back, SP’s Shivpal Singh Yadav said Mr Maurya cannot even win his seat but is talking about breaking SP MPs”.

The Uttar Pradesh deputy CM claimed that about “26 Samajwadi Party MPs are ready to break away from their party”. Mr Maurya asserted that the BJP is not involved; the SP MPs are themselves engineering the split.

My Yadav took a jibe at Mr Maurya and said, “He cannot even win his seat and has been defeated by the Samajwadi Party leaders multiple times. Now he is talking about breaking SP MPs.”

Mr Rajbhar had on Wednesday indicated a major political realignment within the SP. Later in the day, Mr Maurya also repeated the claim while addressing a press conference in Lucknow. The SP chief rubbished the claims.

On Thursday, Mr Rajbhar repeated his assertions and said a split in the SP is inevitable and suggested that the SP chief should focus on retaining his MPs.

“Everyone has been asking since yesterday: Is a split imminent in the SP? Well, listen to this! A son of Uttar Pradesh’s ‘rebel land’ will lead the faction of dissident SP MPs,” Rajbhar posted on X, adding, “And why wouldn’t he? The way the SP office yesterday insulted Brahmins under the guise of a conference has deeply hurt the ‘red’ of ‘Rebel Ballia’.”

“The plan was already in place, but yesterday’s incident has poured ghee into the fire. The split is definitely going to happen,” the SBSP chief added.

After Mr Rajbhar’s statement, SP leader and Balia’s MP Sanatan Pandey rejected his claim and said that he will not leave his party and “no power can separate” him from socialism and the SP.