After Amit Shah's Offer, Jayant Chaudhary Rejects Post-Poll Alliance

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, which will begin on February 10, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary told CNN-News18 in an exclusive interview that his party rules out any post-poll alliance with the BJP after home minister Amit Shah reached out to Jat leaders from west UP, and said it was an “election tactic”.

“The fact is that the Jat community is largely agrarian, they are farmers and they are emotionally attached with the nationwide farmers’ movement,” Chaudhary told CNN-News18.

He denied reports, which suggest that RLD candidates were receiving support but those from the Samajwadi Party, fighting on the RLD’s symbol, would not be able to transfer votes.

Exuding confidence over this year’s Uttar Pradesh elections, where RLD and SP have aligned together, Chaudhary said they will win a “majority”.

First of all, the assumption that the vote percentage has increased cannot be determined. I don’t know on what basis such assumptions are made that in 2019 they got more votes than in 2014. Voting details never come out, these are some companies that carry out such surveys. These companies always keep their points of view. So, I must reject this survey.

Secondly, if you look at the feelings on the ground, we have struggled constantly; the momentum has not been created overnight. There were several factors in their favour when they came to power in 2017. Today, not only the Jat community is upset with them, but youth, women and farmers who come from all castes are upset with them. Even if you look at it beyond the caste divide, you will see that the condition of the BJP is not good. They are just trying to mend that. More than that, they don’t have any attachment with us.

But politics is a game of possibilities. We have seen people making post-poll alliances. There are several examples. And Chaudhary Sahab, your father, was the agriculture minister in the Vajpayee’s cabinet. So, it is not that the equations have never been made before.

No, for now, we have not held any talks. A debate, a confusion is always created about us through the media that we can go here and there. I have been moving on this path for several years, and I don’t have any intention of changing my ways.

So, you are completely ruling out this possibility that you can come together with the BJP in a post-poll scenario?

I tweeted yesterday. First of all, justice should be done to the families of those farmers. Then, they should complete the promise that they made to farmer organisations. And the third thing, which is almost impossible for them, which is to renounce the politics of communal hatred. If these conditions are met, only then can someone like me who wants good for the nation can even think of it.