Close to polling in the first two phases in western Uttar Pradesh, BJP president Amit Shah has reached out to Jats, a politically dominant community in the region, by assuring them that the interests of the hardy farming community is best served by the BJP and not by a “weakened” Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD).
Around 135 Assembly seats in the western UP would witness voting on February 11 and 15. The BJP had gained support of the Jat community in a big way in the Western part of the State in the 2014 lok Sabha polls.
Shah’s reachout to the leaders of the community at a meeting at Union Minister and Jat leader Birender Singh’s residence here on Wednesday night gains significance as RlD is also looking at Jat votes in the region and looked at as “vote Katua” by the BJP leaders.
BJP leaders feel that unlike 2014, Jat’s support to the party may not be that overwhelming even though RlD was hardly in a position to match it in the poll.
There is speculation that in the upcoming Assembly polls, a section of the Jats is in favour of backing the RlD, which has traditionally been their first choice as it believes that the BJP has done little to safeguard the interests of the community while promising to do a lot more.
Shah sought to tell the Jat leaders that it was the BJP which had fought for their reservation in education and government jobs, which is currently in a limbo due to judicial intervention. The BJP chief also assured them that the party will take care of their concerns. He also reminded that the Modi Government had made several Jat leaders, including Singh and Sanjeev Balyan, Central Ministers.
The Jat leaders, according to sources, were asked to think whether voting for the RlD, the presence of which is only limited to parts of western Uttar Pradesh, will serve their interests.
The party was working overtime to win over the community and restrict the RlD's influence.
Uttar Pradesh BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said his party believed in ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ and it was imperative that it reached out to all the communities for their support in this regard. The west UP has got polarised between Hindu jats and Muslims following 2013 communal riots in Muzaffarnagar that also led to change in voting pattern in the following year.