Lucknow: Rumblings within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance came to the fore as an Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and a junior minister allegedly got into a tiff over protocol at an event presided over by Union minister of state (MoS) and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary Saturday.
Anil Kumar, a senior RLD leader elevated during the UP cabinet expansion in March, and MoS (Independent Charge) Kapil Dev Aggarwal of the BJP, seemingly had a disagreement on the dais during the inauguration of an industrial training institute in west UP’s Muzaffarnagar constituency.
In a purported video of the interaction, which has gone viral, both ministers appear to be arguing while Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Jayant Chaudhary was addressing the public.
Though both sides played down the matter, the incident is indicative of friction between the two allies in the Muzaffarnagar region. Speaking to ThePrint, a senior RLD leader said that with Kumar being elevated as cabinet minister and the BJP reduced to only one assembly seat in the region, there are rumblings within the alliance.
The RLD is a key ally of the BJP at the Centre. Out of the five assembly constituencies of Muzaffarnagar, two have RLD MLAs, two have SP MLAs while one belongs to the BJP. In the Lok Sabha elections, one of the BJP’s biggest upsets was in Muzaffarnagar, where the allies teamed up to consolidate the Jat vote. However, SP’s Jat heavyweight Harendra Malik defeated Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan in the parliamentary constituency.
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‘Tiff over who will give speech first’
मुजफ्फरनगर में रालोद अध्यक्ष जयंत चौधरी के कार्यक्रम में भिड़े मंत्री । 😂
अनिल कुमार रालोद कोटे से हैं कैबिनेट मंत्री
सूत्रों के अनुसार प्रोटोकॉल को लेकर हुई दोनों में तीखी बहस ।
जयंत चौधरी भाषण देते रहे और दोनों मंत्री भिड़ते रहे ।😂😂#Muzaffarnagar #JayantChaudhary pic.twitter.com/MX1wMEvZnD— Rahul Yadav (@Rahulyadav249) September 22, 2024
In the viral video, Aggarwal is seen speaking to Kumar, and later signals to a member of the organising team, following which RLD MLA Rajpal Baliyan, who was seated towards Kumar’s right, shifts further right to take another seat.
This is followed by Kumar shaking his head while Aggarwal speaks to him.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior leader from the RLD’s Muzaffarnagar unit, who was present on stage when the incident happened, told ThePrint that Aggarwal and Kumar had an argument over protocol issues. “Kumar has recently been inducted into the Yogi Adityanath cabinet in the expansion before Lok Sabha elections. He is senior to MoS Kapil Dev Aggarwal in protocol but he was upset because despite being senior, he was invited to speak first at the event. Protocol-wise, he should have given the speech after MoS Kapil Dev Aggarwal, who is a junior minister.”
The leader further claimed that what irked Aggarwal further was that Kumar had taken the seat occupied by Jayant Chaudhary, and he asked Kumar to vacate it.
“Subsequently, Baliyan, who was seated towards Kumar’s right, vacated his seat. As an argument between Aggarwal and Kumar ensued, the former called someone and Kumar later vacated the seat meant for Chaudhary and sat on the one vacated by Baliyan. It was against protocol and Aggarwal was not wrong there,” the RJD leader added.
He further alleged Kumar was upset because he felt slighted on being asked to deliver a speech after Aggarwal. “The event was related to the department of skill development and vocational training which is being handled by Aggarwal in UP, so it seemed he got more importance there.”
Kumar, however, denied any rift. “There was no argument. Can you hear anything in the video? How can you say it was an argument? I share a good relationship (with Aggarwal),” he said.
“We were discussing other issues. There was no argument over anything,” he added.
ThePrint reached Aggarwal via calls and messages, but has yet to receive a response. His nephew told ThePrint: “The compère should have taken care of who is to be called to speak first. I don’t think he (Kumar) took the seat meant for the Union minister deliberately, it was by mistake.”
UP BJP spokesperson Awanish Tyagi however said: “There was no dispute. MoS Agarwal can best explain what happened.”
Faultlines in Muzaffarnagar
The senior RLD leader quoted earlier said, “Anil Kumar happens to be a Dalit who has got the cabinet rank. The BJP has only one MLA from the region while the RLD has two. The RLD has an upper hand in the political dynamics of the region and several senior BJP leaders from the region are not able to digest it and tend to throw their weight around.”
Mohammed Islam, national spokesperson for the RLD however said such issues tend to crop up at big events, whether presided over by the PM or CM.
“When a big event takes place, small incidents keep happening. It was not a very big issue, the small issue that emerged ended then and there,” he added.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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