Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Parvesh Verma on Wednesday said that his party wanted to welcome Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary but he has chosen the wrong path. "People of Jat community will speak to Jayant. BJP's doors are always open for him," he added. Hinting at a possible alliance after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Verma further said that there are many possibilities.
Soon after the BJP MP's comments, Jayant Chaudhary tweeted a rebuff. "The invitation is not for me, give it to those 700+ farmer families whose houses you have destroyed!!," Chaudhary said in a tweet in Hindi.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Chaudhary has chosen the "wrong home".
Reportedly, while talking to Jat leaders from western Uttar Pradesh, Shah said the ideology of both the party and the community is the same as both keep national interest first and have been fighting against ''invaders''.
The meeting held at the residence of BJP MP Parvesh Verma was also attended by the party's prominent Jat leaders including Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan who is an MP from Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh.
Jats are a deciding factor in almost all the seats in western Uttar Pradesh, a region where the RLD enjoys influence among the community. The RLD, led by former prime minister Charan Singh's grandson Jayant Chaudhary, has joined hands with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party this time.
The BJP's outreach is significant as there are apprehensions that the over year-long farmers' agitation against the three agri laws, which have since been repealed, will affect its prospects.
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