Samajwadi Party to send Ajit Singh to Rajya Sabha in order to strengthen caste combination

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party is all set to send Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh to the Rajya Sabha in a move aimed at bolstering its caste combination ahead of next year’s assembly election, springing a last-minute surprise as the two parties are set to finalise a pre-poll alliance.

In fast-paced developments on Sunday, senior SP leader and PWD minister Shivpal Yadav went to meet the RLD chief at his Delhi residence in the morning. This was followed shortly by Singh going to meet SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav at his Delhi bungalow where the alliance talks gained momentum.

MLC Ashu Malik who was present at the meeting said, “The top SP and RLD leaders met on Saturday night and today. Both the leaders discussed farmers’ issues.”

Shivpal Yadav described the talks as “customary meeting”. But the party is all set to send Ajit Singh to the Rajya Sabha, people familiar with the matter told ET on condition of anonymitty.