Kanpur: Cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday challenged Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to contest against chief minister Yogi Adityanath from Ayodhya or enter the electoral fray from Rajbhar’s Zahoorabad Assembly seat.Speaking in Kanpur, Rajbhar said that Yadav should accept CM Yogi Adityanath’s challenge. “If Yadav fears contesting from Ayodhya, he should fight from Zahoorabad to learn about Rajbhar’s standing and that of NDA alliance,” he said.Rajbhar also questioned opposition protests over alleged vote theft and Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, asking Yadav to produce evidence supporting his allegations.He said that 37 SP and six Congress MPs were elected in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, while BJP’s tally fell from 303 seats in 2019 to 240 in 2024. He alleged the opposition was raising vote-theft claims out of frustration and would blame the issue for another defeat after the 2027 Assembly elections.Rajbhar alleged that opposition parties opposed SIR because names of deceased people, which previously had been misused for voting, were being removed from electoral rolls.Targeting SP’s PDA slogan for backward classes, Dalits and minorities, Rajbhar cited Rajya Sabha elections and interpreted P as parivar, D as Daulataram and A as aparadhi. He alleged that SP prioritised its family and selected individuals.Rajbhar claimed riots, curfews and armed mafias were common under SP rule. Under Adityanath’s govt, mafias were either jailed or dead and young people secured jobs without paying money, he said.
