Lucknow: Right from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary being lathi-charged by police in Hathras in 2020 to his statement during 2019 poll campaign that he had not taken the theka (contract) of how the Jat community will vote, Samajwadi Party strategists have dug out at least 25 videos of past events to counter RLD’s social media campaign built on SP chief’s ‘chavanni to rupiya’ comment.All set to flood the internet with these videos, the SP strategists are only waiting for a nod from party chief Akhilesh Yadav who has put the ‘counterstrike’ on hold, for now.Akhilesh is known for adopting a less aggressive stance with political outfits which have once been in alliance with the SP in the past. “It’s a historical fact that SP has maintained certain dos and don’ts with alliance partners even after electoral pacts had ended. This is one reason why our party chief is not very keen to respond to RLD’s campaign by raking up political issues directly involving Jayant and his family,” said an SP functionary. It may be mentioned that the SP social media cell has dug out videos of Ajit Singh and Chaudhary Charan Singh.Within the SP, functionaries are convinced that the social media campaign outlining that RLD and the Jat community has taken exception to Akhilesh’s ‘chavanni’ jibe is actually the handiwork of the BJP. “It has been done to create a lasting divide between SP and RLD so that the latter does not have any bargaining power in seat sharing negotiations with the BJP,” said a senior SP strategist.The general perception within the SP is that BJP is unlikely to offer Jayant anything close to the 33 seats that SP had given to RLD in 2022 polls. RLD won 8 seats. The BJP won the remaining 25 seats of RLD quota and has sitting MLAs.“It is highly unlikely that BJP will ask its sitting MLAs to withdraw their claims on these 25 seats and field RLD candidates instead. Even of the 8 seats that RLD won, two of them have Muslim MLAs – Ghulam Mohammad (Siwalkhas) and Ashraf Ali (Thana Bhawan). Possibilities of RLD repeating its Muslim MLAs are bleak as Muslim voters of Siwalkhas and Thana Bhawan are unlikely to vote for BJP and its allies,” said a senior SP functionary.Apart from Jayant being lathi charged by police in Hathras, the SP has secured videos of Jayant’s wife Charu Chaudhary’s emotional condemnation of the lathi-charge and the ‘forced’ eviction of Jayant’s father Ajit Singh’s govt bungalow at 12, Tughlaq Road in New Delhi by the BJP-led NDA at the Centre after he lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. There are also video statements of former Jat MLAs recalling how Mulayam Singh Yadav as CM had got installed the statue of Chaudhary Charan Singh in UP assembly in Lucknow and how the BJP boycotted the ongoing session for five days to protest against the move.The list also includes videos of supposedly ‘morphed’ photographs apparently posted by RLD sympathisers showing Mulayam Singh Yadav filling up the hookah of Chaudhary Charan Singh. “Chaudhary sahab was an Arya Samaji and did not allow any member of the party to use tobacco. Those who did were thrown out of the party. The RLD sympathisers have actually disrespected Chaudhary sahab by putting out such morphed photographs,” said an SP strategist.Akhilesh was addressing members of the Lodh community at an event in Lucknow on Sunday when he said: “Humne chavanni ka rupya bana diya tha, tab bhi humein chhod kar chale gaye wo” (We turned a 25-paise coin into a rupee, still they abandoned SP and went away).Though Akhilesh did not name any party or individual, RLD took exception to it because it was Jayant Chaudhary himself who had first referred himself and RLD to a chavanni. In the run-up to 2022 elections, that RLD was contesting in alliance with SP, the BJP said that RLD will switch sides and leave SP once polls were over. Responding to it, Jayant said: “Main koi chavanni hoon jo palat jaunga. (Am I a 25 paise coin that I will flip)”.“But now the RLD is not talking about its party president having first used the chavanni phrase for himself and his party,” rued a senior SP functionary. Instead, the RLD sympathisers launched a massive social media campaign to claim that Akhilesh’s statements were a direct attack on the Jat and farmer community, he said. Now, SP is ready to hit back with a well curated campaign designed by SP’s social media team.
