Targeting Jayant may backfire on BJP in Jatland

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's continuous attacks on Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary, who has allied with the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the forthcoming assembly polls in the state, may backfire on the BJP in the Jat dominated western UP region which will go to polls in the first two phases on February 10 and 14.

On Saturday, Jayant, while addressing election meetings in Mathura, sought to portray himself as the victim, when he said that Adityanath called him 'goonda' and 'rioter'. ''Baba (Adityanath) considers me as a goonda.....I want to remind Adityanath that it was during the regime of my grandfather Chaudhary Charan Singh the Goonda Act had come into being in the state, when he was the chief minister of UP,'' Jayant said.

In earlier election rallies, the RLD leader said that no communal clashes had taken place while he was an MP from Mathura Lok Sabha seat.

Read more: Amid Jat anger at BJP, Amit Shah looks to lure Jayant Chaudhary

Jayant was apparently responding to Adityanath's remarks that ‘’Ye do ladkon ki jodi danga Karne aye hai’’ (these two boys have joined hands to engineer riots in the state), during an interaction with the people at Baghpat a few days back.

Yogi's attack on Jayant was in sharp contrast with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had been trying to keep the RLD leader in good humour and had refrained from attacking him at his election meetings in the western UP region.

Political analysts here feel that targeting Jayant may backfire on the BJP in the Jatland. ''Jayant, who also hails from the Jat community, enjoys considerable support among his community members...he has emerged as the tallest leader of the community after the farmer agitation....calling him goonda and rioter may not go down well with the community,'' said a Lucknow based political analyst while speaking to DH.

RLD leaders also said that the attacks on Jayant might in fact help the party in the forthcoming polls in the western region. ''The more they (BJP) attack Jayant the more will be the support for him in the community,'' said an RLD leader here.

Sources in the BJP said here that a section of the leaders in UP were also not comfortable by the persistent personal attack on Jayant Chaudhary. ''A personal attack on Jayant may cost us in the polls as the Jats may not like it,'' said a BJP leader in Meerut.

The BJP leader said that the party nominees were already facing the ire of the farmers and the youths in the villages. '

'We should keep attacking Akhilesh but avoid targeting Jayant,'' he added.

Watch the latest DH videos: