BJP confident of poll tie-up with RLD: Rajanth

Amid rumours of Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh cozying up to Congress for a poll tie-up, BJP president Rajnath Singh on Saturday said the saffron party was "confident" of forging an alliance with the RLD.

Amid rumours of Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh cozying up to Congress for a poll tie-up, BJP president Rajnath Singh on Saturday said the saffron party was "confident" of forging an alliance with the RLD.

HT Image

"We are confident and an alliance would be announced soon. There is no reason for it (RLD-BJP alliance) not to happen," Rajnath Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

The alliance is crucial to Rajnath Singh personally since a lot would depend on the help rendered by the RLD for him to win the Gaziabad seat in western Uttar Pradesh.

Posters and banners have already come up across Gaziabad with Rajnath praising RLD patron and former prime minister Charan Singh as the "messiah of farmers."

The BJP, which is in talks with the RLD since August last year, has not yet been able to finalise a seat-sharing formula amid rumours of its leader Ajit Singh cozying up to Congress to "explore possibilities" of his party in UPA.

The saffron party has set a deadline of February-end to finalise all its seats for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.