We have stopped 'chariot of hate' in UP, says RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary, whose party candidate wrested the Kairana Lok Sabha seat from BJP in the bye election, on Thursday said that the united opposition had succeeded in halting the "chariot of hate" of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

He hoped the combined opposition would keep its momentum to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

"I am confident that RLD will play a role in how to carry forward the opposition unity and alliance and ensure we give an alternative to BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Whatever the alliance, we will play a positive role," he told reporters.

His comments came after the combined opposition candidate Tabassum Hasan defeated BJP's Mriganka Singh in Kairana and Samajwadi Party candidate won in the Noorpur Assembly election. The SP and Congress backed the RLD while the BSP was said to have extended its tacit support. Mriganka Singh is the daughter of Hukum Singh, whose death necessitated the bye election.

"Normally, the ruling party is supposed to win by-polls. It's been just a year that BJP formed a majority government in the state. So in that sense it is a big victory for us. The BJP does not like losing elections. They don't understand it (loss).

"The BJP is used to high-decibel and high-voltage campaign. They use the media and are visible in all forums. They use all the strength at their command to win elections by any means and the nation saw how Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in neighbouring Baghpat on Sunday in a influence voters here. The Chief Minister and Deputy Minister, MPs and MLAs were all here to rake up the agenda of riots. But the people did not accept it. Their agenda has been rejected," Chaudhary said.

"We had said earlier that in the contest between 'ganna' (sugarcane) and Jinnah, ganna would win. Jinnah and danga (communal riot) have been defeated and ganna has won. We see that the real issues, that of the the farmers, development and the youth have dominated," Chaudhary, the son of former Union Minister Ajit Singh, said while addressing the media.

He said the BJP does a lot of tom-tomming about its achievements. "It is one or two people running the nation now. The Prime Minister likes to take credit -- whether it is the Mars Mission or a six km road construction. So if you take credit for everything, then people are bound to ask where is the Modi wave."

The BJP had swept 73 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 general elections and won an overwhelming 312 seats out of a total 423 in the state assembly elections last year.

--IANS

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