Two years after parting ways with the ruling BJP, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar met with Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and vice-president Dayashankar Singh in Lucknow, hinting at the possibility of an alliance between the two parties ahead of the Assembly election in UP due early next year.

Threatening to break ties with the SBSP if Rajbhar joined the BJP, AIMIM leader Shaukat Ali said that Rajbhar's visit to meet the UP BJP president was unexpected.

"We are astonished since we had placed our trust in Rajbhar. Though Rajbhar has described it as a 'courtesy call', we can never be sure in politics," said Shaukat Ali.

"With 20 per cent vote bank in Uttar Pradesh, not much will change even if Rajbhar leaves," he added.

On the possibility of the AIMIM allying with the BJP, he stated that the AIMIM's ideology is crystal clear and that it will never join the BJP.

"We want parties like the Samajwadi Party to join forces with us to defeat the BJP and keep the Muslim vote united," Shaukat Ali said.

SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, who established an alliance with the BJP in 2016, became a dissident in 2019 over the subject of OBC quota sub-categorisation.

Following that, the SPSB allied with smaller parties, the Bhagidhari Sankalp Morcha, which comprises Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM and outfits led by former Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha and other OBC figures in the political wilderness.

(With inputs from agencies)