TO GO with the Samajwadi Party (SP) or not? This prickly issue has led to the emergence of sharp differences within the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). While chairperson Flood Control Commission and MP Anuradha Chaudhury has been lobbying for An SP-RLD poll pact, party chief Chaudhury Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhury is firmly against any such move.
Anuradha’s statement that the party had agreed to continue its electoral pact with the SP, evoked sharp reaction from Jayant today.
Jayant told newsmen in Machlishahr (Jaunpur) that the report was “baseless and fabricated”. He said the party had taken no such decision. Jayant, in a veiled attack on Anuradha, said nobody else except Ajit Singh had the right to decide on issues of seat sharing and alliance.
Anuradha had even said that the party had agreed to contest 70 seats in alliance with the SP.
Jayant, who has been vigorously campaigning in eastern UP along with senior party leader Munna Singh Chauhan, had already opposed the State Government’s unemployment allowance to the youth.
The RLD chief, who has been keeping cards close to chest, recently said the decision about the alliance would be announced soon. But he doesn’t appear to be in a hurry on the issue. With a February poll seeming unlikely, the party wants to continue in the government.
But a group, especially from eastern UP, wants the part to move out of government.
{{/usCountry}}But a group, especially from eastern UP, wants the part to move out of government.
{{/usCountry}}RLD leaders from Poorvanchal have veered round to the view that staying in government it would adversely affect the party’s prospects in the region.
The party is already on a sticky wicket in the western region, where it thrived so far on the Jat-Muslim combination.
However, of late the United Democratic Front (UDF) of Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari and the Jan Morcha of Raj Babbar have been trying to wean away Muslims from the RLD.
The BSP has deployed general secretary Nasimuddin Siddique to win over the community in west.