INDIA Members "Blown-Out Transformers That Can't Even...": UP Minister

Members of Opposition bloc INDIA are like "blown-out transformers" which cannot power even a light bulb, let alone run the country, Uttar Pradesh Sugarcane Development Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary said.

Narendra Modi, on the other hand, is a powerhouse who spreads light everywhere, Mr Chaudhary said in an interaction with news agency PTI on Friday.

"For example, there are 10 transformers of 250 units each. But they are 'fused' transformers. They would not be able to light even a bulb. On the other hand, Modi ji is such a transformer, who spreads light everywhere. The Opposition bloc will cease to exist after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," he said.

He also said the alliance has "scamsters" as members, all of whom with a history of dissension.

Mr Chaudhary, a five-time MLA from Mathura's Chhata assembly seat, has been a member of the BSP and the Congress in the past before joining the BJP. He is currently a lawmaker from the same seat.

Being a leader with considerable influence in western UP, Mr Chaudhary said the region, with Jats as the dominant caste, stands firmly with the party.

"The Jats are a nationalist community, and they stay with the party which speaks about nationalism. Even during the Mughal era, the Jats fought for and defended the 'Sanatan Dharma' and the country. If anyone has the highest contribution in defending and saving Indian culture, then it is those who live in the 200-kilometre radius of Delhi. The voters of western UP are fully with the BJP," he said.

Once a minister in the BSP government, Mr Chaudhary dismissed his old party as inconsequential in view of the coming general election, saying its vote bank, which largely is made up of labourers, knows its interests lie with BJP.

He also explained the recent win of the SP candidate from the Mainpuri seat as a consequence of a sympathy wave for Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, calling the seat not "impregnable" for the BJP in future.

The minister also said the Yogi Adityanath government has restarted several sugar mills shut down by the previous governments and opened many new ones in his tenure.

"In the tenure of the BSP government (2007 to 2012), 19 sugar mills were closed down, while in the SP regime (2012 to 2017), 11 sugar mills were shut. After our government came, we restarted the closed sugar mills, and set up new ones," he said.

He also said that till 2017, sugarcane was cultivated across 20 lakh hectares in the state, and now that area has been expanded to 29 lakh hectares.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)