RLD does its 'Math', banks on son rise

In a surprise development, RLD chief Ajit Singh's son Jayant Chaudhary was fielded as a party candidate from Math in Mathura on Tuesday. Srinand Jha and Aurangzeb Naqshbandi report.

In a surprise development, RLD chief Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhary was fielded as a party candidate from Math in Mathura on Tuesday.

The 34-year old Chaudhary is presently the RLD Lok Sabha member from Mathura.

Chaudhary is the latest political heir to enter the assembly poll fray, after the Samajwadi Party projected Akhilesh Yadav as its future leader.

New-kid-on-state-block-RLD-chief-Ajit-Singh-s-son-Jayant-Chaudhary-is-fielded-as-a-party-candidate-from-Math-in-Mathura

His candidature indicates that the Congress-RLD combine is pitching at the role of a “king-maker”, with a senior Congress functionary predicting 80 seats for the alliance.

Calculations are that Chaudhary should be able to bargain an important cabinet portfolio in the next government, if government formation becomes impossible without support from Congress-RLD alliance.

The two parties have also launched joint campaign programmes in western UP, with the first of such rallies addressed on Tuesday by the youth brigade of Sachin Pilot and Chaudhary at Khairagarh.

Escalating the political pitch, a mega-rally is scheduled on January 28 at Meerut, where Rahul Gandhi will share the podium with Ajit Singh.

At Khairagarh, Chaudhary and Pilot used similar metaphors and political idioms to trash the “corrupt and exploitative” BSP government and the “goonda raj” of the previous Samajwadi Party government.

“We are for ‘parivartan’ (change) and good governance... We are here to provide for a viable alternative”, said Pilot.

Chaudhary focused on the controversy surrounding sale of farmer’s lands at the price of peanuts, while expressing displeasure at the misuse of public funds to construct statues.