Lucknow: The fight between Sanjeev Balyan and Sangeet Som over the BJP’s electoral performance in western Uttar Pradesh is showing no signs of abating, bringing to the fore the fault lines within the UP BJP.

Former MLA Sangeet Som, who belongs to the Rajput community, and Jat strongman Sanjeev Balyan have been at loggerheads even before the start of the Lok Sabha elections, with the tension ratcheting up after Balyan’s loss to Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Harendra Malik in the Muzaffarnagar parliamentary constituency.

While the BJP had won 18 out of the total 26 seats in west UP in 2019, it managed to win only 13 this time.

Adding fuel to fire, Som has commented that he doesn’t think the alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) — whose chief Jayant Chaudhary is a Jat — benefited the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

A day after Balyan commented that “some Jaichands and Vibhishanas (Hindi equivalent of Quislings)” were successful in misleading the public and that the party will find them out soon, Som shot back saying the two-time MP had none other to blame but himself for his loss in Muzaffarnagar.

At a press conference Monday, Balyan said that he hoped that the party would take action against those “who used facilities provided by the government” and “helped the SP” fight the election.

Both Balyan and Som came into prominence after the 2013 deadly communal riots in the entire Muzaffarnagar region. The duo is accused in cases pertaining to the riots that killed at least 62 people, including 42 Muslims, and displaced over 40,000 people in Muzaffarnagar region.

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Som versus Balyan

The tussle between the two took another turn after a two-page unsigned, undated press release on Som’s letterhead reportedly distributed during his press conference in Meerut on Tuesday drew a legal notice from Balyan’s friend Sanjeev Sehrawat.

The release details the alleged corruption during Balyan’s previous five-year tenure as Union minister. Some of the allegations are a “partnership” in an ethanol plant with former SP leader Gaurav Swarup who joined the BJP in 2022, alleged purchase of 600 bighas and 200 bighas of land in Jansath, Shukratal and Shukrateerth, alleged corruption in digging of ponds in Muzaffarnagar, among others.

“Balyan’s parents have visited Australia twice in the last year and purchased land on a wide scale there… Balyan’s friend, Sanjeev Sehrawat alias Sanjeev Khardu, a resident of Haryana, has started staying in Australia and Balyan has helped him get the first permanent pass. According to credible information, Sanjeev Sehrawat helped the former minister purchase land in Australia and he is a witness in the deal,” reads the note, a copy of which is with ThePrint.

In his legal notice, Sanjeev Sehrawat sought an apology from Sangeet Som for his charges, failing which appropriate steps would be taken against him.

Sehrawat told ThePrint that while he knew Balyan for the past 35 years and they are good friends, he has never purchased any property in Australia.

“In 2019, I went to Australia on a visa which is for four years. If you stay there for four years, you can get permanent residency. However, COVID struck and in between, Balyan ji’s parents had come to meet me. They stayed for 15 days and returned. I have never done any investment here, leave alone buying land. I don’t know which sources he (Som) has who have told him that I have purchased land in Australia. I have only one bank account in Australia and stayed in a rented property,” he told The Print over the phone.

Meanwhile, Som has given a written complaint to the Lalkurti police station stating that a suspicious person distributed fake press notes during his press conference held at his Meerut residence in which “a fake letter-pad” was circulated.

Balyan, meanwhile, said that he would respond to the allegations brought against him in two days after returning. “I will not respond in small bits. I will respond to everything together after returning,” he said.

When Som lost from Sardhana in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections, his supporters had blamed Balyan for the loss and for allegedly not delivering the Jat votes. The supporters of former UP minister and another west UP Rajput leader Suresh Rana, too, had blamed Balyan for his defeat at Thana Bhawan

To Balyan’s allegation that he was to be blamed for his loss in Muzaffarnagar, Som has asserted that he too had lost from Sardhana in 2022. Sardhana falls under the Muzaffarnagar parliamentary constituency. The Rajput leader further told the media that he felt the alliance with the RLD did not benefit the BJP as the party lost even those seats that it had been winning.

When contacted by ThePrint, Som clarified that he was only responding to a media query. “Someone asked me if the alliance had benefited, and I was only responding to the question. I have not commented on the alliance, but only mentioned that we lost even those seats that we had been winning in the past,” he said, referring to Muzaffarnagar and Kairana.

He further said that while the BJP lost in his home constituency of Sardhana by just 45 votes, it lost in Budhana and Charthawal— the home seat of Balyan by much more votes.

“The party had given me the responsibility of Sardhana. I placated the angry public here and didn’t let the BJP lose. But why have we lost from Budhana and Charthawal? Whose responsibility is it? We have barely won the Muzaffarnagar assembly seat, which we always won by a huge margin. The party has to ponder upon this and discuss why it happened but at an internal forum and not before the media,” he said.

Navneet Tyagi, a Muzaffarnagar-based social worker, noted that the BJP managed to win the Muzaffarnagar assembly seat with a margin of a few hundred votes

“The Muslim vote consolidated in favour of the SP candidate and the INDIA bloc, Harendra Malik. There was also a division of the Jat votes who voted for Malik in huge numbers. Ever since the Muzaffarnagar riots, a schism has driven between the Hindus and Muslims, and it is largely because of the local politicians. The public feels that the tensions in the city are not good for the region,” he told ThePrint.

In the run up to the elections, there were reports that the Rajput youths were angry in western UP with Balyan for allegedly pushing the case of Jat youngsters in Agniveer recruitment. Such was the anger that stones were pelted at Balyan’s convoy in a Thakur-dominated village, a night before PM Narendra Modi addressed his first election rally in Meerut.

Som, meanwhile, told ThePrint that the Thakur votes remained loyal to the BJP. “Almost 90-95 percent Thakurs who came out to vote, have voted for the BJP in huge numbers but the voting percentage within them has gone down,” he said.

BJP infighting heat reaches RLD camp

RLD national general secretary Mairajuddin Ahmed said that Som should not have made such a statement, adding that had Jayant not sided with the BJP, it would have lost a greater number of seats in west UP.

“Our party is a local party, we were given two seats and we won both. Jats gave support to RLD and Jayant ji, otherwise the BJP would have lost even more seats. The Muslim vote got consolidated in the opposition’s favour, although if we look at the data of polling booths, even Muslims have voted for the RLD where we have won seats. The Jats were also with the BJP,” Ahmed told ThePrint.

“Balyan lost due to local politics. The NDA could have got Muzaffarnagar too, but there has been internal politics there.”

RLD state president Ramashish Rai told ThePrint that BJP leaders were aware that had Jayant not come along, they would have lost many other western UP seats like Mathura, Aligarh, Hathras, Bulandshahr, and Agra.

“This can be one person’s (Som’s) personal opinion and not the party’s. He had organised a Thakur panchayat against the party before the election. Sanjeev Balyan has alleged that he was made to lose,” he said.

“In Muzaffarnagar, Tyagis and Thakurs were upset with the BJP and the party lost Prajapati votes, thanks to the BSP candidate. Sangeet Som has also played a role in the loss. Despite the CM reaching out to the community, the Thakurs didn’t listen to him. Jayant ji took out a lot of padyatras and public meetings to ensure that the BJP wins,” he said.

(Edited by Tony Rai)

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