Lucknow:

A video of Arvind Rajbhar, son of Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, has surfaced. In the video, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak asked Arvind Rajbal to bow on stage at an event after seeking blessings from party workers ahead of the general elections.

In response, Samajwadi Party chief Akhliesh Yadav claimed that the BJP was forcing its alliance leaders to kneel down and apologize.

Arvind Rajbhar is contesting from the Ghosi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming general elections.

In this regard, Arvind Rajbhar said that the accusations made by the opposition are baseless.

“…a video went viral on social media in which the opposition made baseless accusations and I was forced to apologize. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak asked me to seek the blessings of the people. I am seeking the blessings of the party Blessings from the staff,” he clarified.

“I will bow to my party workers at any major event, even at my party’s rallies. The opposition has nothing left; this is just the beginning. They will do a lot to undermine the confidence and unity of our party.” workers,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the NDA would win all 80 assembly seats in the state.

“Today I have received blessings from NDA workers and on June 4, we will raise the slogan again, ‘Ab ki baar, 400 baar’. We will win all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

Akhilesh said in X’s post, “This is the arrogance of the BJP that they force the leaders of their own alliance parties to bow their heads and apologize; this is the highest shame.”

This is the arrogance of the dominant people in the BJP who have forced leaders of other parties to bow their heads and apologize, which is the highest insult.

The entire BJP should collectively kneel down and apologize for this wrongdoing. The BJP has not just insulted one person but the entire society… pic.twitter.com/R2Nd0IS50D

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 5, 2024

His post also said, “The entire BJP should collectively apologize for this crime. The BJP has not only insulted a man but the entire society to which he belongs. The Rajabhar community will vote against the BJP in protest This is an insult and will uproot the feudal mindset of the BJP.”

Uttar Pradesh has sent up to 80 MPs to the Assembly and voting will be held in all seven phases.

Voting for the first and second phases will be held on April 19 and April 26. Next, the state will conduct voting in the third and fourth phases again on May 7 and May 13. Voters in Uttar Pradesh will also go to polls in the fifth, sixth and seventh phases on May 20, May 23 and June 1 respectively.

Polls are about to go to 543 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country and nearly 970 million voters will be eligible to put their finger signatures.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)