Days after receiving an offer to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance for the Uttar Pradesh elections, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary on Tuesday said that he does not want to be like BJP leader Hema Malini in the party.
Chaudhary’s remarks came as Union Minister Amit Shah during a meeting with Jat leaders in New Delhi last month had said the BJP’s doors are always open for the RLD.
“Aaj mere liye itni meethi meethi baatain. Yogesh ji ko Amit Shah ne baataya. Hum aapko Hema Malini banayenge. Unhe mujse pyaar nahi hai. Unhe mujhe khush karke kya mil jaayega. Mujhe toh nahi banana Hema Malini (BJP has no love for me. It is surprising to know that they are having ‘sweet talks about me’. What will they (BJP) get by pleasing me? I don’t want to be Hema Malini),” Chaudhary said while addressing a gathering ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in Mathura. Notably, Malini is a BJP MP from Mathura. Hema Malini defeated Jayant Chaudhury in the 2014 UP polls in Mathura.
“What have they (BJP) done for the families of 7 farmers, why is (Ajay Mishra) Teni a minister?” he asked while slamming the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. The RLD chief in a tweet earlier in January had said that the invitation from BJP should not be given to him, but to all the families of farmers whose lives were destroyed during the farmers’ protest.
Chaudhary had reiterated his stance of not forging any post-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and said they would not gain anything by “appeasing him” and alleging that the latter is trying to polarise on caste lines. Elections for 403 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10.
The polling in the state will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
