Om Prakash Rajbhar warns BJP over OBC quota split, threatens to go solo in 2019

Om Prakash Rajbhar, leader of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, warned in January 2019 that his party could contest the Lok Sabha election on its own. His condition was that the BJP must act on the SBSP’s demand to reserve a share of the 27% OBC quota for the most backward castes.

The ultimatum

“As of now we are in the NDA, but the BJP has to decide whether we will remain with them or not,” Rajbhar said, according to party sources.

He set a deadline of February 24. If the BJP did not act on the demand by then, he said, the SBSP would decide on the alliance at a party event in Varanasi and announce the next day that it would field candidates on all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Rajbhar said the BJP had promised to divide the 27% OBC quota and implement the change six months before the polls. With barely 100 days to go before the election, he said, the party had told the BJP to announce the split through a cabinet decision or face the SBSP’s exit.

The demand

The SBSP, which draws considerable support from the Rajbhar community, is part of the state’s ruling coalition headed by the BJP. It has long argued that part of the OBC quota in government jobs and higher education should be set aside for the most backward castes and mahadalits, so that these groups gain more from reservation. According to the party, the benefits currently go mostly to relatively better-off groups.

What happened next

The Lok Sabha election was held between 11 April and 19 May 2019, with votes counted on 23 May. The BJP won 303 of 543 seats nationally and Narendra Modi began a second term on 30 May 2019.

Originally published on 18 January 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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