UP elections 2022 'Don't want to be Hema Malini': Jayant Chaudhary on BJP's 'doors are open for him' offer

Image Source : PTI/FILE
RLD's Jayant Chaudhary

Highlights

'I don't want to be Hema Malini, what will you get by pleasing me?', RLD Chief said
Shiv Sena's Gulabrao Patil in 2021 had compared roads in his constituency with the actor's cheeks
Lalu Prasad Yadav had more than a decade ago had started this trend

In an apparent tongue-in-cheek expression RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary has once again brought up Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and yesteryear actress Hema Malini into election campaigning. Addressing an election gathering in Mathura on Tuesday, Jayant said,".I don't want to be Hema Malini, what will you get by pleasing me?"

The RLD leader also took a swipe at the BJP over death of farmers during over year-long farmers protests and also demanded resignation of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. "What have they (BJP) done for the families of 7 farmers, why is (Ajay Mishra) Teni a minister?" Chaudhary asked.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during his meeting with Jat leaders recently, had said that Jayant Chaudhary has chosen the 'wrong home'. Jayant Chaudhary's RLD and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party are contesting the UP Assembly elections 2022 in alliance.

Interestingly, this is not the first time when an politician has brought an actress' reference while poll campaigning. Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena leader Gulabrao Patil in 2021 had crudely compared the roads in his constituency in Jalgaon district to actor turned politician Hema Malini's cheeks.

Patil at a public meeting recently said that people should come and see the good condition of roads in his constituency and that he will resign if the roads were not smooth like Hema Malini's cheeks. "My challenge is for the person who has been an MLA for 30 years (Eknath Khadse) to come to my constituency and see the roads. If the roads are not like Hema Malini's cheeks, then I will resign," said Patil.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and veteran actor Hema Malini found the statement distasteful. "Better I keep my cheeks safely. A trend of such statements was started by Lalu Ji years ago and many people have followed this trend. This should not be done. Such comments are not in a good taste. Any woman should not be used to making such comments," Hema Malini had said.

Former Bihar CM and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had more than a decade ago said that the roads in Bihar will soon be turned "as smooth as Hema Malini's cheeks". The RJD leader was lampooned on his remarks for several years.