New Delhi:
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhary, known for his smart Twitter comebacks, has courted controversy over his abusive remark against ruling BJP. Addressing a rally, Chaudhary said, “Yeh aapko sharaabi kahein, yeh aapko milavat kahein, to maine bhi inke liye naam soch rakha hai...Main gaali to nahi dena chahta inko lekin yeh bahut bahut bahut bade *#&@!e hain, *#&@!e, bahut *#&@!a party hai. (They (BJP) will call you milavat, alcoholic. Even I have a name for them. Though I never use cuss words, but I want to says that this is a big, big *#&@!a party ).”
The statement was made at a rally on March 30. A video of the rally was tweeted by news agency ANI on Monday. He didn’t stop at that. Chaudhary also attacked the BJP for its swanky new party headquarters. “Aapne ₹1,500 cr ka ek alishan kendriya karyalaya,BJP ne Delhi mein banaya hai...Pichhli baar hum koi tod fod karne nahi aaye the, abki aap chook karoge to Ajit Singh ji ailaan karenge, hum log chalenge aur ek-ek eenth ukhaad na di jo karyalaya ki. (You (BJP) have constructed a posh Rs 1,500 crore office in Delhi. Last time, we didn’t damage any property. But this time if you fail, we will take away every single brick from your party office).” The second remark was an reference to the farmer’s protest over cane arrears.
Meanwhile, in Baghpat, the bastion of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the BJP faces tough challenge of farmers’ dissent over the arrears. The constituency has more than 16 lakh voters, and among them, 4.5 lakh are Jats. Mahagathbandhan hopes to make inroads in the region with four lakh Muslims and 2.5 lakh Dalits. The area also has about one lakh Gujjar voters. “The arrears have peaked during the BJP government. Right now, it is ₹13,000 crore, rising from around ₹4,500 crore in March 2017,” Chaudhary was quoted as saying by The Hindu’s BusinessLine.
Earlier, RLD had released the list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Ajit Singh will contest the elections from Muzaffarnagar, Jayant Chaudhary from Baghpat and Narendra Singh from Mathura. RLD is in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh.
The RLD formally joined the SP-BSP ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) on March 5 to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. The announcement was made at a joint press conference of SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary in Lucknow.
The RLD settled for three Lok Sabha seats -- Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar and Mathura -- in the SP-BSP alliance. According to sources, the RLD had sought four seats.
The BSP, led by Mayawati, is contesting on 38 seats and the SP on 37 seats, while five seats are left for other parties, including two- Amethi and Raebareli held by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi -- for the Congress. While announcing the alliance last month, both parties had said they will contest 38 seats each. This put a question mark on the electoral future of the state’s next biggest regional contestant, the RLD.
Uttar Pradesh accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats.
