Jayant Singh confirms RLD-NDA alliance after Bharat Ratna to grandfather
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Singh on Friday confirmed that his party will form an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Non Democratic Alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. His remarks came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that his grandfather, former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, will be conferred the Bharat Ratna. "How can I refuse the offer now?" Jayant stated and praised PM Modi's vision for achieving what other parties could not.
Why does this story matter?
The BJP government's decision to award Chaudhary the Bharat Ratna is seen as an attempt to reach out to the Jat community, which accounts for around 3.6% of Uttar Pradesh's population. The RLD has vast influence in western Uttar Pradesh, and the BJP hopes to win ground there with the Bharat Ratna move. To put this into perspective, seven of the 16 seats lost by BJP in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls were from west Uttar Pradesh.
Watch: Singh's full statement here
Seat-sharing agreement between RLD and BJP
The alliance's formal announcement, however, will be made in the next two to three days, sources said. Regarding the seat-sharing agreement, the RLD will compete for two Lok Sabha seats—Baghpat and Bijnor. The party was also promised a Rajya Sabha seat. This development is considered a blow to the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, which has been at odds with its members over seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh.
RLD's influence in western Uttar Pradesh
Recently, the Samajwadi Party (SP), which is a member of the INDIA bloc, announced its candidates in 16 seats in Uttar Pradesh, catching the Congress off guard. The announcement followed the decision of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal to contest the Lok Sabha elections independently after failing to reach a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress. Later, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann announced that his party would contest the elections alone. To be sure, the Congress currently chairs the INDIA bloc.
RLD's previous alliance with Samajwadi Party
The RLD and the SP had been allies in Uttar Pradesh since the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In that election, RLD lost all three seats it contested, while the SP secured five seats. In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, SP won 111 of the 347 seats, and RLD won nine of the 33 constituencies. The possible new alliance signifies a major shift in the RLD's political strategy leading up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
PV Narasimha Rao, Chaudhary, MS Swaminathan to get Bharat Ratna
This year, five people have been conferred the Bharat Ratna. Apart from Chaudhary, PV Narasimha Rao and agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan will be conferred the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, Prime Minister Modi announced on Friday. Normally, three Bharat Ratna awards are given in a year. This year, the government has chosen five people for the Bharat Ratna, including veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur.
