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Bharatpur victory a morale booster for RLD
The party tasted victory when it was left with no representation in Parliament
Winning the Bharatpur assembly seat in Rajasthan was a shot in the arm for the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and lifted its workers’ morale ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, a party leader said.
The party tasted victory at a time when it was left with no representation in Parliament or in any state assembly. It had been in the political wilderness for a long time.
While the RLD drew a blank in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party could win only one seat in 2017 assembly elections in UP. But the RLD had to expel its lone MLA SS Ramala after he joined hand with the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections in April-May this year.
Bharatpur shares its border with Mathura-Agra, the districts where the RLD wields considerable influence in various Jat-dominated assembly segments that have sent party candidates to the UP Vidhan Sabha in the past.
In 2009, RLD national vice-president Jayant Chaudhary was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mathura, a constituency that he continued to nurture even after he lost to BJP’s Hema Malini in 2014. The RLD had fought the 2009 Lok Sabha polls in an alliance with the BJP.
The RLD contested two seats in Rajasthan in alliance with the Congress and won in Bharatpur. The seat had been with the BJP for two consecutive terms. The RLD’s Subhash Garg won by a margin of 5,464 votes with 28.5% of the vote share. The party was in second position in the Malpura seat.
“The RLD has done very well by winning the Bharatpur seat and coming second in the Malpura assembly constituency,” former MLA and RLD spokesman Anil Chaudhary said.
“The results will lift our morale and increase the party’s influence in 2019,” he said.
The RLD’s performance in Rajasthan, according to another party leader, would strengthen its relationship with the Congress as well.
“There is every possibility of all the non-BJP parties coming together in UP in 2019. The SP and the BSP will have to leave more seats for the Congress and the RLD after the results in three Hindi-speaking states,” he said.
“The party’s bad days began with the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, when both Jats and Muslims turned their back on it. But now, things are changing for better for the RLD in western UP since the BJP has disappointed them on all fronts,” he said.
Amid the counting, Jayant Chaudhary announced all the support to the Congress to form next government in Rajasthan. “Respecting the people’s mandate, party president Ajit Singh has directed the MLA of the party to help the Congress form a stable government in Rajasthan,” Jayant Chaudhary said in a written statement.
