UP assembly polls: SP-RLD alliance; Jayant Chaudhary’s party to contest about 40 seats, announcement on Dec 23

As Uttar Pradesh assembly polls inch closer, every political party is trying hard to seize the anti-BJP votes by forging alliances even with the archrivals too.

Two socialist parties – having a base among farmers, which fought for the electoral dominance over Western UP in the past – the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) stitched an alliance to fight the forthcoming UP polls.

As per a highly placed source, the RLD which has almost gone into political oblivion after losing all 3 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls it contested, will be fighting about 40 seats in the assembly polls.

Contrary to the media reports, the RLD source told NH that the media is only counting seats that have been allotted to the party in Western UP.

Importantly, as per the source, the announcement will be done on December 23 - the birth anniversary of Jayant's grandfather, Chaudhary Charan Singh who was the mentor of the SP patriarch, Mulayam Singh.

We will get three-four seats more in other parts of the state, said the source.

Media reports claimed after a meeting between RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary and SP president, Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday, both the parties agreed to fight the election together.

Akhilesh later tweeted a photo of them with the caption: “Heading towards change with Jayant Chaudhary.”

Shortly afterward, the RLD leader also tweeted a photo of the meeting with a similar caption.

NH has learned that RLD was demanding 45 seats but SP was ready to give only 25. But after the Tuesday meeting, both leaders decided to settle on around 35 seats.

Sources said there is a possibility that five or six SP candidates will contest on the RLD’s symbol in western UP.

In the backdrop of the ongoing farmers’ protest, SP and RLD coming together assume significance as the alliance will stop the division of anti-BJP votes and will bring the two most powerful communities Jats and Muslims together in the Western UP.

After the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, division among two communities deepened, resulting in extreme polarization.

It is worth mentioning here that the BJP won 71 assembly seats across 14 districts in Western UP, in which Jats play an important role. The SP had won 16 seats, the Congress two while the BSP and RLD had won one each.

There are 120 seats in Western UP where the Jat-Muslim combination will have an impact on the result of the poll.