New Delhi: The BJP is devising a new plan to solidify the critical Jat support in western Uttar Pradesh, which has brought it to victory in the previous three elections – national, state, and local.
Union Minister Amit Shah met with Parvesh Verma, the son of BJP’s former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, at his house in Delhi today for a strategy session ahead of the February 10 elections in western Uttar Pradesh.
Verma, the BJP MP for West Delhi, described it as a gathering of Jat community leaders to discuss their concerns. The gathering was attended by around 200 Jat leaders.
However, reportedly, feelers were also made to Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Choudhary on the prospect of an agreement.
Citing the farmer’s deaths during the farm laws agitation, Choudhary on his official Twitter handle wrote: “Don’t invite me, invite those 700 farmer families whose houses you have destroyed!!”
Following the unrest over the contentious agricultural laws last year, the Jats had turned against the BJP. They are gathering behind the RLD leader, who has formed an alliance with Samajwadi Party chairman Akhilesh Yadav, the BJP’s main adversary in the state, now more than ever.
The BJP won all six assembly seats in the Muzaffarnagar district in 2017. Muslims are now outraged that they cannot elect even one of their community’s leaders to the assembly to voice their concerns.
Today, Sanjeev Balyan, one of the most powerful BJP leaders in western Uttar Pradesh, stated that the Jats had no animosity against the BJP.
“This notion is formed prior to polls, yet Jats always vote for the BJP during elections. Jats have historically supported the BJP. They supported the BJP in 2014, 2017, and 2019,” according to the news agency PTI, he said.
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