OP Rajbhar mocks Akhilesh over Rahul Gandhi's Prayagraj rally turnout
Synopsis
UP Minister OP Rajbhar turned a reported crowd shortfall at Rahul Gandhi's Prayagraj rally into a full-scale attack on Akhilesh Yadav's alliance commitment — alleging fewer than 5,000 turned up despite ₹30 crore in spending and three months of groundwork. The broadside exposes the fault lines within the INDIA bloc's most electorally critical state.
Key Takeaways
UP Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar attacked Akhilesh Yadav on 9 August over the reported turnout at Rahul Gandhi's Prayagraj rally.
Rajbhar alleged fewer than 5,000 people attended despite an expected crowd of 20,000–25,000 .
He claimed ₹30 crore was spent on the event and 20,000 flags, banners, and posters were deployed — figures NationPress could not independently verify.
Rajbhar accused Akhilesh Yadav of prioritising seat-sharing talks over supporting the Congress event, referencing a dispute over 200 seats .
The remarks highlight tensions within the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh , a state with 80 Lok Sabha seats .
Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday, 9 August launched a pointed attack on Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, claiming that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's rally in Prayagraj drew fewer than 5,000 people — and squarely blaming Yadav for the reported shortfall. Rajbhar's remarks, posted on X in Hindi, targeted both the Congress-SP alliance and the SP chief's organisational commitment.
What Rajbhar Said
Addressing Akhilesh Yadav sarcastically as 'brother of Rahul Gandhi ji,' Rajbhar questioned the SP chief's loyalty to the INDIA bloc partnership. 'You're going around calling yourself Rahul ji's brother, but it seems like you don't know how to uphold brotherhood. At least yesterday you could have fulfilled the duty of a younger brother,' he wrote.
Rajbhar alleged that Gandhi had expected a crowd of 20,000–25,000 people, anticipating SP's organisational machinery to mobilise supporters. 'Poor Rahul Gandhi ji couldn't even muster 5 thousand people. Why did you deceive him like that?' he said.
Allegations of Spending and Low Turnout
The minister further claimed that the Congress had invested heavily in the event, alleging that ₹30 crore was spent, workers had toiled for three months, and 20,000 flags, banners, and posters were put up across Prayagraj. Despite this, Rajbhar alleged, attendance remained well below expectations. NationPress could not independently verify the crowd size or expenditure figures cited by Rajbhar.
A Dig at Alliance Tensions
Rajbhar also alleged that Akhilesh Yadav was more focused on seat-sharing negotiations than on supporting Gandhi's programme. 'You had to haggle with Rahul Gandhi ji. You had to assert the status of 200 seats,' he said, referring to reported intra-alliance discussions over Uttar Pradesh's 80 Lok Sabha constituencies.
He ended with a personal jibe: 'The elder brother's nighttime rally in the dark turned out to be a flop, and the younger brother isn't stepping out from his AC room and Twitter. Now, both brothers sit together and divide up those two hundred seats.'
Context: INDIA Bloc Dynamics in Uttar Pradesh
Rajbhar's salvo comes amid ongoing seat-sharing discussions between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Samajwadi Party, two key constituents of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh. The state, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha, is considered a crucial battleground, and tensions over seat allocation have periodically surfaced in public. Rajbhar himself is a minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government, giving his remarks a clear partisan dimension. Neither the Congress nor the SP had issued a formal response at the time of publication.
With assembly by-elections and the next general election cycle on the horizon, political temperature in Uttar Pradesh is expected to remain elevated.
Point of View
But it points to a real structural problem in the INDIA bloc's Uttar Pradesh arithmetic: the Congress and SP have never fully resolved who leads, who follows, and who mobilises. A BJP minister gleefully amplifying an intra-opposition spat is standard playbook — but the underlying tension over seat-sharing in an 80-seat state is not trivial. If the alliance cannot present a unified face at a single rally, questions about coordinated ground mobilisation in a general election become harder to dismiss.
NationPress
9 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did OP Rajbhar say about Rahul Gandhi's Prayagraj rally?
Rajbhar alleged on 9 August that Rahul Gandhi's rally in Prayagraj drew fewer than 5,000 people despite expectations of 20,000–25,000 and claimed ₹30 crore was spent on the event. He blamed Akhilesh Yadav for failing to provide organisational support to his Congress alliance partner.
Why did Rajbhar target Akhilesh Yadav specifically?
Rajbhar accused Akhilesh Yadav of prioritising seat-sharing negotiations — specifically over 200 seats — over supporting Gandhi's rally. He sarcastically invoked Yadav's self-description as Rahul Gandhi's 'brother' to highlight what he called a failure of alliance commitment.
What is the Congress-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh?
The Indian National Congress and the Samajwadi Party are both constituents of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh, a state with 80 Lok Sabha seats. The two parties have been in discussions over seat-sharing arrangements, though these talks have periodically surfaced as a source of tension.
Were Rajbhar's crowd and spending figures independently verified?
No. The figures cited by Rajbhar — including a turnout of fewer than 5,000, spending of ₹30 crore, and 20,000 flags and banners — are his own claims made in a social media post. NationPress could not independently verify them, and neither the Congress nor the SP had issued a formal response at the time of publication.
What is OP Rajbhar's political affiliation?
Om Prakash Rajbhar is a minister in the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government. His party, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), is an ally of the BJP in the state, which gives his attack on the Congress-SP alliance a clear partisan context.
