Ask 700 Farmer Families: RLD's Jayant Chaudhary's Rebuff To BJP "Invitation"

Union Minister Amit Shah met Parvesh Verma -- the son of BJP's former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma -- at his Delhi home for a strategy session ahead of the February 10 elections

The BJP is formulating a fresh strategy to consolidate the crucial Jat vote of western Uttar Pradesh which had propelled it to power in the last three elections -- to national and one in the state. Today, Union Minister Amit Shah met Parvesh Verma -- the son of BJP's former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma -- at his home in Delhi for a strategy session ahead of the February 10 elections in the western Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Verma -- the BJP MP from West Delhi --had put it as a meeting where Jat community leaders had come to flag their issues. Around 200 Jat leaders were present at the meeting. But sources said feelers were also sent to Rashtriya Lok Dal's Jayant Choudhary over the possibility of an understanding.  

Soon after, Jayant Choudhary tweeted a rebuff. "The invitation is not for me, give it to those 700 farmer families whose houses you have destroyed!!," Mr Chaudhary said in a Hindi tweet, citing the farmers deaths during the long protest against farm laws.

Over the last year, the Jats had turned against the BJP following the agitation over the controversial farm laws. Now, more than ever, they are rallying behind the RLD leader, who has worked out an alliance with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the BJP's chief challenger in the state.