The grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh formally collapsed on Wednesday after the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), one of the three partners, announced that it will contest the upcoming by-polls alone.
The BSP was the first to take such a decision, followed by the SP. The RLD, however, has not completely shut the doors, but said it will take a decision according to the political scenario of the State.
Announcing the decision in Lucknow, party’s Uttar Pradesh president Masood Ahmad said the Congress should also be part of the Grand Alliance.
“The Rashtriya Lok Dal will contest the UP Assembly by-polls on its own. However, it is too early to comment on the political scenario in the State,” he told PTI.
Ahmed added that party President Ajit Singh and his son and Vice- President Jayant Chaudhary will decide on the number of seats the party will contest during a meeting in the next few days. “The profit and loss analysis will be done later. Our wish is that the gathbandhan should increase its kunbaa (clan), so that we can emerge as a strong anti-BJP force,” he said.
The RLD had got three seats — Mathura, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpath — to contest as part of the alliance during the Lok Sabha election.
The party lost all the three seats to the BJP. The RLD was hoping for a revival by taking up issues of sugarcane farmers, but failed to make a comeback.
In 2014, too, the RLD did not win any seat. In a 2018 by-poll, the party contested Kairana and won with the support of the SP and the BSP. At present, the party does not have any members in the UP Assembly, too.
While Ajit Singh was the candidate from Muzaffar Nagar, Jayant Chaudhary unsuccessfully contested from the Baghpat constituency. BJP’s Hema Malini defeated RLD’s Kunwar Narendra Singh in Mathura.