Bihar effect? Ajit Singh, Beni Prasad Verma seen cosying up to Samajwadi Party

LUCKNOW: The political realignment in Bihar has triggered talks about similar initiatives in UP as well.

Keeping in mind the political exigencies arising out of the Saffron surge in the Lok Sabha elections, sources say, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma of Congress are gravitating towards the Samajwadi Party.

Although Beni Prasad denied any such possibility, the SP sources say that his coming back to SP or RLD's possible alliance with UP's ruling party is not a far-fetched idea.

"The realignment will benefit all parties concerned. While both Ajit and Beni are eyeing the Rajya Sabha berth, SP will gain in their areas of influence in the forthcoming state polls in 2017," says an SP insider.

The glimpses of the growing proximity between the SP and RLD became apparent on Tuesday when senior SP minister demanded Bharat Ratna for Ajit Singh's father Chaudhary Charan Singh, along with socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia and poet Gopal Das 'Neeraj'.

When contacted, Beni Prasad though insisted that he would stay with the Congress party, he was reluctant to recount the failures of SP government like he did during the 2014 general elections. "Congress has given me a lot. Why would I leave the party," Beni said.

Asked if was satisfied with the performance of the Akhilesh Yadav government, he said: "Akhilesh is my nephew and I have never criticized him and nor I will in future."

Although all parties were decimated by the Modi wave in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, what gives an upper hand to Mulayam in case of any such realignment is that neither Ajit Singh nor Beni Prasad are members of any of the houses in Delhi or Lucknow.

The SP boss could just facilitate their journey to the upper house. As many as 11 RS members from UP are slated to retire in November 2014 and SP at least 6 of the seats would go to SP.

Both Beni and Ajit have had close association with Mulayam in the past. While Beni was virtually number two in the SP before Amar Singh usurped that place, Ajit Singh's outfit has had electoral tie up with it. Mulayam on the other hand started his political career under the tutelage of Chaudhary Charan Singh.