Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) may enter into an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, sources have said.
According to reports, the seat-sharing between the BJP and the RLD has almost been finalised.
Sources say that the RLD will contest two seats in Uttar Pradesh which are Baghpat and Bijnor. Besides this, it will also get one Rajya Sabha seat and one MLC berth in the UP Legislative Council. The BJP won the Baghpat constituency twice in 2014 and 2019 when party candidate Satya Pal Singh defeated his nearest rivals on both occasions. Satya Pal Singh defeated Jayant Chaudhary in 2019 and relegated then-RLD chief Ajit Singh to the third position in 2014. BJP's Bhartendra Singh won the Bijnor seat in 2014 but lost it to Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Malook Nagar in 2019.
The party will also be accommodated in the Centre and State Cabinets, sources said. In the 2019 elections, the RLD allied with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP). The party lost all three seats namely Baghpat, Mathura and Muzaffarnagar allotted to it in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP and the RLD together contested the Lok Sabha Elections in Uttar Pradesh in the 2002 Assembly polls and recorded its best-ever tally of 14 seats in the Assembly. The RLD also won five Lok Sabha seats in an alliance with the BJP in 2009 when it registered victories in Amroha, Hathras, Bijnor, Baghpat and Mathura. Party chief Ajit Singh won the Baghpat seat while his son Jayant Chaudhary won the Mathura constituency.
Speculations are also rife that the BJP's former ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will rejoin the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Punjab.
Talks on seat-sharing between the BJP and the SAD are advancing and a formal announcement may come in the coming days. The BJP is also trying to rope in the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh.
On speculations of Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD joining the BJP-led alliance in UP, Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said, "I know Jayant and his father very well because I have worked with him. I hope that Jayant will not let the farmer's protest weaken." The Samajwadi Party national general secretary said Jayant Chaudhary will remain with the I.N.D.I.A bloc and defeat the BJP in the general elections.
Earlier, similar sentiments were echoed by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav who said he hopes that Jayant Chaudhary will not weaken the struggle going on for the 'khushali' (prosperity) of Uttar Pradesh.
ALSO READ | Lok Sabha elections: UBT-Shiv Sena to go solo in Maharashtra? Uddhav asks candidates to prepare for polls
