‘We don’t change decision,” Jayant on BJP offer
UP polls: During a meeting with party workers in Muzaffarnagar and later in Khatauli and Budhana too,Jayant Chaudhary also mentioned meeting of Jat leaders with union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday where he said an offer was made for him to join the BJP alliance.
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary started his election campaign from Muzaffarnagar on Thursday, taking a veiled swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party and accusing its leaders of vitiating the atmosphere by raising issues like ‘palayan’ (exodus).
During a meeting with party workers in Muzaffarnagar and later in Khatauli and Budhana too, he also mentioned meeting of Jat leaders with union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday where he said an offer was made for him to join the BJP alliance.
“We are not a ‘chavanni’ who will change,” he said while appealing to the people to vote for Samajwadi Party-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,” he said while accusing the government of forcing the farmers to stage a protest for 13 months.
“We carried the movement for 13 months,” he said while appealing to the people to ensure victory of alliance candidates on 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 to tell if they had “closed the doors for the BJP” and on receiving a positive response, he said that like them, he too has decided to shut the doors on the BJP.
In 2017 elections, the BJP won all 6 assembly seats of the district.
CAPTION: RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary addressing meeting in Muzaffarnagar on Thursday