Fissures appear in RLD over tie-up with SP

MEERUT/BIJNOR: Fissures have started to appear in Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) over a possible alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party. RLD’s general secretary for western UP Ajay Vir on Friday said the party will fight elections alone and said media reports of alliance with SP were false. Meanwhile, party's national general secretary Trilok Tyagi told TOI that they were “not ruling out” an alliance since they were “living in the age of alliances”. Another party source said the “alliance” was limited to ensuring BJP’s loss in the recent Rajya Sabha polls.

Addressing a press conference in Bijnor, Vir said, “We are strengthening the party organization at the booth level. We will fight the election alone and preparations for that are underway. We are not going to join any alliance.”

The party had held talks with both SP and Congress in May in an effort to forge a ‘Grand Alliance’ in Uttar Pradesh. While RLD chief Ajit Singh met SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son Jayant Chaudhary had a meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. Sources told TOI that Ajit Singh was keen on a national party like the Congress being a part of the alliance. For the RLD, the 2017 assembly polls will be a fight for survival since it had failed to win even a single seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Ajit Singh had lost from his own stronghold in Baghpat. Desperate to find new life, the party was in talks with both the BJP and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) for a merger. However, talks with both parties had broken down. In May, the party approached the Samajwadi Party for an alliance.

Trilok Tyagi, the party’s national general secretary, did not rule out an alliance. “We live in the age of coalitions. Even Narendra Modi, when he was at the peak of his popularity, had to rely on allies. It is true that as of now, we are strengthening the party organization in such a way that we can fight elections on our own. However, we cannot rule out an alliance in the future. If someone comes to us with a proposal, we will give it due consideration,” he said.

Tyagi, however, lashed out at the BJP. “We are against communal and anti-farmer forces. The BJP government at the Centre is anti-farmer. 70% of the population is dependent on farming and yet the BJP has not given a farm loan waiver. Even the Manmohan Singh government waived farm loans, but BJP has betrayed farmers.”