The upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will see a coalescing of political forces, not least of which will be a new political party to be formed with the proposed merger of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), led by Ajit Singh, and the Janata Dal (United).
RLD chief Ajit Singh told The Hindu that a committee had been set up in both parties to settle the modalities for the merger.
“This is true, we are in talks to merge our two parties, and talking to the Apna Dal and the Peace Party to join us and persuade the Congress to forge an alliance with us in Uttar Pradesh, similar to the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar,” Mr Singh said.
The RLD chief said that when the Janata Parivar merger failed to take off, he remained in touch with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, from which this new idea came up.
“At that time too, I had told the others who wanted the merger that Mulayam Singh, for very obvious reasons, will walk out of the proposed merger,” he said.
Mr. Singh, whose Rashtriya Lok Dal has been in alliance with almost all major parties in the State in the past, said there was space for a political alternative in the State.
He admitted that his vote bank of Jats and Muslims in large stretches of western Uttar Pradesh had deserted him in droves in the 2014 general election in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots.
But his “vote bank” has returned to him “after they realised that whatever dreams this man [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] was showing them were not going to fructify.”
