Lucknow, June 3 -- In what may be seen as an indication of a tussle in the NDA camp for the Mau Sadar assembly seat, Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Monday staked his party's claim to the seat even as senior ally Bharatiya Janata Party said a decision will be taken by the central leadership. The move comes a day after the seat was declared vacant on the disqualification of sitting MLA Abbas Ansari, the son of the late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. "We will talk to the top NDA leadership to field our (SBSP) candidate in the by-election," Rajbhar said at a press conference. The SBSP had won the Mau Sadar seat in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. Since then, the SBSP has parted ways with the SP and joined the National Democratic Alliance fold as a BJP ally. In the 2017 assembly election, the SBSP was the runner-up in Mau Sadar. Rajbhar had announced on Sunday that his party will file a petition in the Allahabad high court against the order of a special MP/ MLA court that had sentenced Abbas Ansari to two years' in prison in a 2022 hate speech case, paving the way for his disqualification from the state assembly. Meanwhile, the BJP has welcomed the conviction of Abbas Ansari and his disqualification. "The decision to field a candidate for the Mau Sadar by-election will be taken by the party central leadership," said BJP state president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary. The BJP candidate was the runner-up in the 2022 assembly polls, he said. The BJP is yet to open its account in Mau Sadar. The Janata Party had won the seat in the 1977 assembly election. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh had won the seat in 1967. Mukhtar Ansari had won the seat in the 1996, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 assembly elections. The SBSP contested the 2022 assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. SBSP candidate Abbas Ansari polled 1,24,691 votes while BJP nominee Ashok Kumar Singh secured 86,575 votes. Abbas defeated Singh by 38,116 votes. After the assembly election, Rajbhar walked out of the SP-led alliance to join hands with the NDA. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, his son Arvind Rajbhar contested the Ghosi seat against the SP's Rajiv Rai but lost by 1.60 lakh votes. Rai also led in Ghosi's Mau Sadar assembly segment. After the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, the SBSP's claim to the Mau Sadar seat has weakened. BJP strategists feel Ashok Kumar Singh, who has been challenging the might of the Ansaris in successive elections, will give a tough fight if the SP decides to field an Ansari family member in the by-election....