As the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections draw increasingly closer, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday hit out at Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary over his recent ‘not a coin, won’t flip’ remark. The politician whose party has aligned with the Samajwadi Party for the 2022 elections was responding to the BJP’s apparent attempt to woo him.

Lashing out at the RLD leader, the BJP leader dubbed him a “child” who had just entered the political arena and was, therefore “not aware of the ground realities”. Pradhan also cited Chaudhary’s father as an example to underscore his point. “Jayant (Chaudhary) has little knowledge of history. He has forgotten how many times his father changed parties. In which alliance did Jayant win the first time? Kids need to be forgiven,” he said.

With mere days left for the first phase of UP elections, Union Minister Amit Shah had reached out to Jat leaders last week, reportedly noting that Chaudhary has chosen the “wrong home”. The saffron party’s outreach is significant, coming as it does amid apprehensions that the lengthy farmers’ agitation against the three agri laws will affect its prospects. The RLD also enjoys influence among the Jat community which is a deciding factor in almost all the seats in western Uttar Pradesh

Addressing an event last week, Shah had claimed that Akhilesh Yadav and Chaudhary were only “together till counting” of votes. “If their government is formed, then Jayant ji will leave and Azam Khan will come back. The people of UP have understood from the distribution of tickets that what is going to happen next,” he alleged.

The RLD leader has however rebuffed the other party’s advances. “Invite those +700 farmer families which you have destroyed, not me,” he had tweeted in Hindi.