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BJP expected to tie up with RLD in elections
Talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in the context of next year's Lok Sabha elections have entered a decisive stage.
- By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
- Published: 23:55 October 23, 2008
New Delhi: Talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in the context of next year's Lok Sabha elections have entered a decisive stage.
A final announcement in this regard is expected to be made by veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani during his party's proposed rally in New Delhi soon.
Interestingly, the RLD headed by former federal minister Ajit Singh is the second party allied with the Jat community to forge an alliance with the BJP.
Although Jats, essentially a community of farmers, are confined to Haryana and western districts of Uttar Pradesh, they can play a decisive role in Rajasthan and the national capital region, which are headed for assembly elections soon.
While the BJP is seeking to retain power in Rajasthan, it is making a strong bid to oust the rival Congress party from power in the Delhi assembly.
RLD sources here confirmed that they have more or less finalised the alliance and only final touches remain to be given before the details are made public. However, it is not yet clear if the BJP would spare more than 10 Lok Sabha seats for RLD. The RLD contested 10 seats during the 2004 general elections when it formed an alliance with the Samajwadi Party and won three seats.
RLD sources indicated that while they would be content with 10 seats in its pocket borough of western Uttar Pradesh, the party wanted the BJP to spare a few seats for it in eastern and central parts of the state.
Problems
While the BJP is currently trying to attract as many allies as possible into the fold of the National Democratic Alliance it heads at the centre, its tie-ups with the Indian National Lok Dal, the Jat-dominated party of Haryana, and RLD have created problems within the party.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh is opposed to any alliance with the RLD and had, at one point, threatened to walk out of the BJP. He has since softened his stance under pressure from Advani, the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, and party chief Rajnath Singh, who is seeking to run for the Lok Sabha from one of the seats in western Uttar Pradesh.
RLD was part of the NDA but preferred to walk out of it when Ajit Singh was dropped as a cabinet minister.
Ahead of last year's assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, it walked out of the alliance with the Samajwadi Party and explored the possibility of alliances with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress party before opting to join hands with the BJP.
While the BJP is currently trying to attract as many allies as possible into the fold of the National Democratic Alliance it heads at the centre, its tie-ups with the Indian National Lok Dal, the Jat-dominated party of Haryana, and RLD have created problems within the party.
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