New Delhi: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary on Sunday accused BJP of indulging in polarisation in the countdown to the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. Chaudhary said that BJP is driving a "one gear-car" that is headed backwards, news agency PTI reported.
He even asserted that the anti-Muslim rhetoric will not work as people are fed up of such politics, according to the PTI report.
RLD is an ally of the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party,
Chaudhary said he will not contest the upcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh and would instead focus on campaigning.
Chaudhary also talked about leaders quitting the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, and joining the SP-RLD alliance ahead of the UP elections, in an interview to PTI. He said this shows that the alliance is peaking at the right time and is an "attractive, viable alternative" that wants to represent the grassroots.
Expressing confidence over the fact that Opposition votes would not get divided, Chaudhary asserted that it was a direct fight between the SP-RLD alliance and the BJP.
"Not only will the Opposition votes not get divided, there is a great confidence with which I can say that many people who voted for the BJP last time are in fact going to shift to our alliance with the SP. That is because the core issues of governance, leadership, and development have not been addressed over five years by the incumbent government," the PTI report quoted the RLD chief as saying.
Chaudhary, on being asked about the ministers, MLAs and leaders quitting the BJP to join the SP and RLD, said that the ticket seekers, sitting MLAs and people of political prominence joining the alliance sort of indicated the groundswell of support.
Quoting Chaudhary, the report said that the leaders quitting the BJP to join the SP-RLD alliance is indicative of the public sentiment and also shows that while they were in government, they were feeling stifled.
Chaudhary added that the BJP used to talk about inner party democracy, how it builds up its organisation and respects its cadres and workers but MLAs in BJP, while in power, were not able to get a lot of work done.
"So, there is a lot of resentment in the BJP ranks which is why now when there is an opportunity to shift they are the first ones to leave," the report quoted Chaudhary as saying.
On being asked about the polarisation in the polls and how he plans to deal with it, Chaudhary said people will see through this as voters are very savvy, the report stated.
"Yes, there were disruptive, traumatic events which have happened in our state in the recent past ... People have realised the folly ... The fact that riots don't help anyone, so I think people want to stay away from all of the hate and the poison," the report quoted the RLD leader as saying.
Chaudhary said that farmers' distress would be among the key issues in the polls. He asserted that this issue was prevalent, deep-rooted, all-pervasive, and breaks all barriers of castes and religion. "Farmers are today very disturbed by the fact that their lot has not improved. Of course, the way the (farm laws) agitation came out against the bills, the way a hard-fought victory was won by the agitators has given some confidence to the farmers. That is going to be a major issue going to polls," the report quoted him as saying.
According to Chaudhary, the second major issue was going to be youth-related distress with the government recruitment not being done in an effective manner and recruitments not happening on time. He also charged the government of having failed on the employment issue.