RLD may get 3 seats, deal with SP almost done

Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) could contest from Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar seats in alliance with the SP and BSP while SP’s legislative council member Sanjay Lathar could fight on an RLD ticket from Mathura in the general election. This deal was almost sealed after a long meeting between Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhary, and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday, according to people privy to the details.

While Ajit Singh is expected to contest from Muzaffarnagar, Chaudhary could fight from Baghpat. RLD’s sitting MP from Kairana who won the recent by-poll, Tabassum Hassan, could be fielded again but on an SP ticket. She and her family were always with the SP in the past.

RLD was also asking for the Mathura seat, from where Chaudhary had contested in 2014. It is expected that SP’s MLC Sanjay Lathar, who is close to Yadav, may be fielded from Mathura on an RLD ticket. “The SP-BSP-RLD alliance is done,” a senior SP leader told ET.


Ajit Singh could pose a challenge to the BJPs’ sitting MP Sanjeev Baliyan and turn it into aclash of Jat leaders in the constituency which saw the 2013 riots. Singh is said to be confident of rallying both Jat and Muslim voters to his side, as he did in Kairana last year, leading to the RLD candidate’s win. While Jats voted for the BJP in big numbers in western UP in 2014 and 2017, Baliyan’s promise of withdrawal of riot cases against Jats has not been fulfilled despite the BJP being in power at the Centre and in the state. Although Baghpat is considered a stronghold of RLD, the BJP’s Jat candidate, Satyapal Singh, had beaten Ajit Singh in 2014. RLD’s decision to go with the SP-BSP combine and not the Congress shows Singh expects the alliance to fare better than the Congress, which was also not ready to spare more than a couple of seats for the RLD.