BJP concerned about 40 Jat dominated LS seats

By Shashi Bhushan New Delhi, Feb 17 : Fearing that the ongoing farmers’ agitation will adversely affect the party in 40 Lok Sabha seats spread across Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, the top BJP leadership has gone into a hurdle to find a way out to reach out to the Jat community predominant in these regions.
The BJP leadership has realised that the Jat community is one of the most active participants in ongoing farmers’ agitation against the three Central farm laws, insiders in the saffron party told IANS.
Anticipating that the Jats may drift away from the party, the BJP top leadership called a high-level meeting on Tuesday in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present along with MPs, MLAs and leaders from Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeeb Balyan, a Jat leader from Western Uttar Pradesh, were also present in the meeting held at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
Amid the rise of Bharatiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) Rakesh Tikait, a Jat kisan leader who has become the face of the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the Central farm laws, the BJP feels that the community which voted in favour of the party in the previous Lok Sabha polls in 2019 may go against it in the coming elections, most importantly in Uttar Pradesh in 2022.
“The BJP knows that the fate of all the Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh is decided by the Jat community, which is crucial for the formation of the government at the Centre,” said a party insider.