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‘We believe no anti-BJP alliance can work sans Cong, SP-RLD aren’t enough’
In an exclusive interview, RLD’s Uttar Pradesh president Ramashish Rai indicated that RLD might rethink its ties with SP before 2024 Lok Sabha poll. Excerpts
Despite Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary maintaining that there were no differences with the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, it is widely believed that all is not well between the two alliance partners who joined hands against the BJP in 2017. Fueling this theory is none other than RLD’s state president Ramashish Rai who has shown no qualms in expressing his party’s differences with the SP.
In an exclusive interview, Rai indicated that RLD might rethink its ties with SP before 2024 Lok Sabha poll. Excerpts
You asserted that the RLD suffered electoral loss in 2022 Assembly elections due to its alliance with the SP to the extent that the party later had to lose its recognition as a state-level party. Can you elaborate?
Yes, this is a fact. The RLD could have won more seats on its own or if the SP had conceded some winnable seats to the RLD. Alliance deprived the party of contesting on the seats that were its stronghold. For example, the RLD candidate lost the Mant assembly seat in Mathura by a narrow margin of just a few hundred votes in 2017 when the party fought on its own. But in 2022 the SP did not give that seat to us and fielded its own candidate who lost.
Not fielding RLD candidate from Mant seat enraged Jat voters in the region and they chose to support the BJP instead on several seats in Mathura, Agra and Hathras districts. Later on, the Election Commission withdrew the status of a state-level party from the RLD, and this situation could have been avoided had SP conceded some more seats to the RLD.
Now, what is your move for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections?
Our target is to contest at least a dozen seats in 2024 with a view to winning as many seats as possible so that the RLD can regain its lost recognition as a state-level party. Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Amroha, Bijnor, Nagina, Meerut, Mathura, Hathras and, Fatehpur are some of the Lok Sabha seats where the party is a natural claimant. This time we would also like to contest Deoria seat in eastern U.P.
Will your party’s alliance with the SP continue in 2024?
We are trying to maintain our ties with the SP but signals from their side are sometimes not positive. For example, the SP has appointed party in-charge even for Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha constituency where the late Chaudhary Ajit Singh lost by around 5,000 votes in 2019 and hence the RLD has first claim over this seat. Problems cropped up during distribution of tickets for the recent civic polls too. Such unilateral actions by the SP unnecessarily create fissures in the alliance.
Is there a possibility of the RLD joining the NDA camp?
Our priority is to take the Congress on board in the alliance against the BJP. We strongly believe that no anti-BJP alliance minus Congress will work and pay dividends. The SP-RLD alliance is not enough to face the challenge.
Are you suggesting that the SP is not ready to take Congress on board?
Things will be clearer after the Opposition parties meeting in Bengaluru this month.
