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UP elections: Won’t change decision, says RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary on BJP’s alliance offer
UP assembly elections 2022: “We are not a ‘chavanni’ (dim wit) who will change,” Chaudhary said in Muzaffarnagar while appealing to the people to vote for SP-RLD alliance.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary started his election campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections from Muzaffarnagar on Thursday by reiterating his decision to turn down any alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and accusing the party of vitiating the atmosphere by raising issues like ‘palayan (exodus)’.
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The RLD is contesting the election in alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP). Chaudhary was among leaders who participated in the farmers’ protest against the farm laws that the Central government had passed in September 2020.
During meetings with party workers in Muzaffarnagar, Khatauli and Budhana on Thursday, Chaudhary mentioned the meeting of Jat leaders with union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday where, he said, an offer was made join the BJP alliance.
“We are not a ‘chavanni’ (dim wit) who will change,” he said in Muzaffarnagar while appealing to the people to vote for SP-RLD alliance.
“The BJP should not take us lightly. We don’t change our decision,” he said. “Where were they when the incident in Lakhimpur Kheri occurred? Where were they when people were lathicharged and stopped from going to Hathras?,” he asked.
“Workers of Muzaffarnagar protected me from lathis... We carried the movement for 13 months,” he said while appealing to the people to ensure the victory of alliance candidates in all 6 constituencies of Muzaffarnagar.
He said while the BJP was on the backfoot, those who followed the legacy of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh were moving forward.
“The challenge is big and it is a testing time for those who follow ideologies of Charan Singh and Ajit Singh. They (BJP) will talk about Jinnah and palayan, hurl abuses against Aurangzeb but will never utter words for ‘ganna (sugarcane)’ and employment,” he said.
He appealed to the people to be cautious till the end of the elections. “This is important as they (BJP) have only these divisive things in their box and will try to divide people by vitiating the atmosphere,” he said.
He asked people they had “closed the doors for the BJP” and on receiving a positive response, he said that like them, he too had decided to shut the doors on the BJP.
In the 2017 elections, the BJP won all 6 assembly seats of the district.
Reacting to Chaudhary’s comments, BJP’s district president in Muzaffarnagar, Vijay Shukla, said the party believes in ‘Sabka saath, Sabha Vikas’ and claimed that no riot had taken place during the rule of BJP in the state. He further said that benefits of welfare schemes has been given to the poor irrespective of their caste and community and voters would again ensure the BJP’s victory.
