‘Will serve SP till my last breath’: Sanatan Pandey hits back at OP Rajbhar’s ‘Ballia rebel’ claim
New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) In a sharp response to Uttar Pradesh Minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar’s claim, Samajwadi Party MP from Ballia constituency Sanatan Pandey on Thursday asserted that he will continue to serve the Akhilesh Yadav-led party “till his last breath”.
The SP MP’s reaction comes after Rajbhar, in a post on X, claimed that the split within the Samajwadi Party is inevitable and will be led by “son of UP’s land of rebels”, apparently referring to Pandey.
Speaking to IANS, Sanatan Pandey said: “First, I want to thank him (Rajbhar) for such detailed information. I want to clearly say that I will not leave the party. This is a straightforward answer. Throughout my life, whether I remain in politics or not, whether I am an MP or not, my entire being is rooted in socialism. No power in the world can separate me from socialism and the Samajwadi Party.”
Hitting back at the BJP-led government in UP, he said: “The power based on which such claims are being made can only encounter and frighten people like us.”
He further said: “I am an MP of the Samajwadi Party and I don’t own any money earned through illegal means. The people who are making such claims may be powerful enough but cannot buy Sanatan Pandey.”
Maintaining that it will be a separate matter if other people from the Samajwadi Party choose to break away, Pandey asserted: “Until the last moment of my life, even if I get a chance to serve only as a watchman of the party office, I will do it with everything I have, in order to save the party.”
On Rajbhar’s allegation that Brahmins have been insulted by the SP, Sanatan Pandey said: “For the first time in my life, I saw a large gathering of Brahmin community members from across the state. In our organisation, there are 78 members, but I noticed thousands of Brahmins present from different parts of the state in the event.”
“People strongly said that the support and expectations they had from the Bharatiya Janata Party have not been fulfilled. According to them, the most affected community under this government has been the Brahmin community,” he added.
OP Rajbhar has alleged in his post: “Brahmins were allegedly insulted yesterday at the SP office in the name of a conference, which has deeply hurt this son of ‘Rebel Ballia’.”
–IANS
cg/dpb