After Ajit Pawar, BJP netas too oppose 'Batenge toh...' slogan

SAMBHAJINAGAR: UP CM Yogi Adityanath 's " Batenge toh katenge " slogan is causing heartburn in BJP after raising the hackles of its Mahayuti ally NCP.

Days after NCP president and deputy CM Ajit Pawar declared in Beed that such a slogan wouldn't work in Maharashtra, two prominent faces in BJP - MLC Pankaja Munde and Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan - have expressed reservations about it.

"My politics is different. I won't support it (the slogan) just because I belong to the same party (as Adityanath). My belief is that we should work only for development," Pankaja, a BJP national secretary, was quoted as saying in an interview to a paper Thursday.

Although she was quick to clarify to news channels that her remark had been misconstrued, the tremors within were hard to miss.

Chavan added to BJP's discomfiture when he told a TV channel, "This 'batenge toh katenge' slogan has not been given by BJP, it has come from a third party."

In another statement to a news agency the same day, the former CM said Adityanath's words had "no relevance" and was "not in good taste". "I don't think people will appreciate it. I am not in favour of such slogans either," Chavan said.

BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde said Friday that there was nothing contentious about what the UP CM said. 'Batenge toh katenge' is a reality. Pandits in Kashmir were not united and they paid a heavy price for it. In the recent Lok Sabha election, Mahayuti was leading in five assembly segments in Dhule, but in the Malegaon segment, it suffered a setback."

Tawde said caste-based divisions were detrimental to the country's interest. "If the nation is divided, others take advantage. Therefore, we are also saying, 'Ek hai to safe hai' (We are safe if we are together)," he said, referring to PM Narendra Modi's slogan at poll rallies in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis attributed disparate voices in BJP and ally NCP's distaste for Adityanath's slogan to lack of understanding about what it implies. "It seems they (Munde & Ajit Pawar) could not understand people's sentiment or the meaning of the statement, 'Batenge toh katenge', or they wanted to say something but their words were misconstrued," he said.