Farmers Movement Archive

Uttar Pradesh: SP may offer 30 seats to ally RLD

LUCKNOW: Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at the latter’s residence in Lucknow on Tuesday and discussed the mood of farmers in western UP in the backdrop of the Centre’s decision to repeal the three farm laws. The two leaders also discussed seat-sharing for the UP elections. The meeting remained a closely guarded secret till Akhilesh tweeted a photograph shaking hands with Jayant Chaudhary and captioned it: “Shri Jayant Chaudhary ke saath, badlao ki ore (Heading for a change along with Jayant Chaudhary). The RLD was also quick to retweet the picture with a reply “saath saath challenge (will walk together). The RLD tweeted another picture of Jayant standing with Akhilesh and captioned it “badte qadam” (Moving forward). The tweets from the two sides suggest that the two parties have sealed the deal and the final announcement is expected in the near future. श्री जयंत चौधरी जी के साथ बदलाव की ओर https://t.co/iwJe8Onuy6— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) 1637665744000बढ़ते कदम! https://t.co/NqYFSz4MV1— Jayant Singh (@jayantrld) 1637664821000Sources in the SP said the meeting lasted a little over 35 minutes and was held between the two leaders only. The announcement of a formal alliance may come in the form of a joint rally possibly somewhere in Western UP, the date and time of which was yet to be finalised. “If we go by how the SP announced its alliance with Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) it was only photographs of the two leaders meeting followed by formal announcement of a joint rally,” said a senior SP leader. He went on to say that with RLD the things were a bit different as the two parties have already contested elections as alliance partners so announcement of alliance for 2022 polls was not needed. About seat sharing, well informed sources in the SP said the two sides have agreed that the RLD will contest on around 30 seats. “A few candidates here and there can always be adjusted on RLD nominee contesting on SP tickets and vice-versa,” the source said.

The Times of India

2021-11-24

Lucknow