A BJP legislator's desire to steal the limelight left a pair of bulls and its owner stranded in Lucknow. Jawahar Lal Rajput, who represents Garautha Assembly constituency in Jhansi district, became the centre of attraction when he arrived for the inaugural session of the House on a bullock cart on Monday. Picture courtesy Twitter
A BJP legislator’s desire to steal the limelight left a pair of bulls and its owner stranded in Lucknow. Jawahar Lal Rajput, who represents Garautha Assembly constituency in Jhansi district, became the centre of attraction when he arrived for the inaugural session of the House on a bullock cart on Monday.
Even as Rajput entered the Vidhan Bhavan, photojournalists and cameramen of several TV channels rushed in to capture images of the MLA on the bullock cart. “I wanted to highlight the problems of the farmers and so I came here on a bullock cart,” he told reporters. After the photo shoot, the MLA proceeded to attend the session. Rajput’s supporters were also nowhere in sight.
The owner of the bullock cart, Ram Lakhan, who had traveled nearly 300 km from Jhansi, was expecting to be paid by the MLA or his supporters, but instead was escorted out of the Assembly complex by security personnel.
“I was told to bring the bullock cart for some ‘vidhayakji’ (MLA). Neither do I know him nor do I have his contact number. I have not been paid,” said Lakhan, who parked his cart near the state BJP headquarters in front of the Vidhan Bhavan.
Lakhan said he had no money to feed his animals or have food himself. “I brought raw food from my village, which I cooked and ate during the trip to the state capital. Now, I have nothing,” he rued.
It later turned out that Rajput had got on to the bullock cart barely a few metres from the Assembly complex. Till then he had travelled in an SUV.