RLD has worked out an alliance with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for UP polls
New Delhi:
The BJP is formulating a new strategy to consolidate Western Uttar Pradesh’s crucial Jat vote that had brought it to power in the last three elections – national and one in state. Union Minister Amit Shah Parvesh Verma — the son of BJP’s former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma — met today at his home in Delhi for a strategy session ahead of the February 10 elections in western Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Verma, the BJP MP from West Delhi, had said it as a meeting where Jat community leaders had come to signal their problems. About 200 Jat leaders attended the meeting. But sources said feelers were also sent to Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Choudhary about the possibility of an agreement.
Shortly afterwards, Jayant Choudhary tweeted a rejection. “The invitation is not for me, give it to those 700 farming families whose houses you destroyed!!,” Chaudhary said in a Hindi tweet, citing the farmers’ deaths during the long protest against agricultural laws.
For the past year, the Jats had turned against the BJP following agitation over the controversial agricultural laws. Now, more than ever, they are rallying behind the RLD leader, who has formed an alliance with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the main challenger to the BJP in the state.
“Jayant Chaudhary has chosen a wrong path. The people of the Jat community will talk to him and our door is always open for him,” said Parvesh Verma, indicating that the BJP hopes to take advantage of the escalating problems within the RLD. , and count on the party to consider a reshuffle.
In recent weeks, Jats in the Meerut belt have been deeply upset about some seats that went to the candidates of the Samajwadi party. In recent weeks there have been loud protests in Siwalkhas, Sardhana and Hastinapur as lists of alliance candidates were released.
Similar problems are brewing in Muzaffarnagar, where the alliance has decided not to call on Muslims in order to keep Muslim voices intact. The area had about 40 percent Muslim population.
By 2017, the BJP had won all six assembly seats in Muzaffarnagar district. Now Muslims are angry that they cannot even send a single leader of their community to the assembly to express their concerns.
Today, Sanjeev Balyan, one of the top BJP leaders in Western Uttar Pradesh, said the Jats do not hold a grudge against the BJP.
“This perception was created before the elections, but in the elections, Jats always vote for the BJP. Jats have always voted for the BJP. They voted for the BJP in 2014, 2017 and in 2019,” he told PTI news agency. .
“I hope Jats will vote for the BJP this time too. Nobody wants Akhilesh Yadav to become the prime minister in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.
