Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday, 4 September launched a sharp political attack on Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, mocking him over a reported closed-door meeting with Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leader Ashutosh Ranka in Lucknow. Rajbhar's taunting post on X drew wide attention, escalating an already charged political atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh.

Rajbhar's Jibe on X

Taking to X, Rajbhar wrote, 'What's up, Akhilesh Yadav ji, heard you're trying to light a lamp in Abhijit Nakshatra. Meanwhile, cockroaches have started showing up at your doorstep, and that too, with their mouths tied shut. TV shows that the red spray is meant to wipe out cockroaches, but here the red folks themselves are begging for help from cockroaches.'

He went further, questioning whether Yadav trusted his own political base: 'Don't you even trust your own right-wing loaders that much, who are now taking the side of these cockroaches? Your father and uncle worked so hard! Pedaling the cycle from village to village to run the Samajwadi Party, just to see this day? That the son would sit in AC and rely on cockroaches to form a government.'

Rajbhar also took aim at what he described as Yadav's privileged background, saying, 'Your Saifai syndicate kids study abroad, roam around London-Paris,' while urging him not to drag 'Yadav and poor weaver-backward Muslim youths' into political fires that could ruin their futures.

The Meeting That Triggered the Row

The controversy stems from reports of a secret meeting between Akhilesh Yadav and CJP's Ashutosh Ranka held behind closed doors in Lucknow. The nature and agenda of the meeting were not officially disclosed, prompting rival parties to read political significance into it.

SP Pushes Back

The Samajwadi Party moved quickly to refute the allegations. SP spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chand said the CJP leaders had visited Yadav solely to express gratitude. 'The leaders and spokespersons of the CJP had come to meet Akhilesh Yadav only to express their gratitude. The way the protest was held at Jantar Mantar and the way the youth protested across the country, the Samajwadi Party supported the demands of the youth from the streets to the Assembly and raised their voice in the House,' Chand said.

Congress Sees Nothing Wrong

Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput adopted a more measured stance, saying, 'Such meetings keep taking place, and there is nothing illegal about meeting. If meetings are held with leaders of the CJP, it is an even better thing.' The Congress response signals that opposition circles are unlikely to treat the meeting as politically damaging.

The Broader Political Context

The exchange reflects the intensifying jockeying for political space in Uttar Pradesh ahead of future electoral cycles. Rajbhar, who heads the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and is an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state, has a history of sharp verbal volleys at the SP. Notably, this is not the first time the two camps have clashed over perceived alliance signals — any meeting between opposition figures in UP is quickly scrutinised for coalition arithmetic.