Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Ajit Singh, who was all set to merge his party with the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (U) as part of a larger merger of erstwhile socialist parties, is now said to be negotiating with the BJP instead.
Top sources in the BJP have confirmed that party president Amit Shah himself is in communication with the former Civil Aviation Minister, but that both sides are driving a hard bargain.
“Talks have been on for more than a fortnight or so, but with serious reservations from the BJP’s own Jat leadership like Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan and MLA Sangeet Som,” said an office bearer in the party privy to the talks.
The RLD is said to command influence among the dominant Jat community in western Uttar Pradesh, but is politically on the wane at the moment.
Jats are influential in over 19 districts across 136 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Singh has been in the political doldrums since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when his party failed to win a single seat, including his family pocket borough of Baghpat.
He is looking to make a comeback in the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP had swept U.P. in 2014 in the wake of the polarisation of the Muzzafarnagar riots and the break up of the RLD’s old social coalition of Jat and Muslim voters.
The Land Ordinance and the Jat agitation in Haryana have begun to give the BJP the jitters on its influence of the Jat vote in the State and some sections of the party (not the local leadership) feels that a tie up with the RLD could sort it out. “The bargaining is fierce, and we have heard he is speaking to another U.P. based party. Our offer is for a merger, or around 25 seats, plus a governorship for Mr Singh,” said a senior leader in the BJP.
Mr Singh is hankering for at least 45 seats out of the 404 member (one nominated Anglo Indian member) Assembly, and a Cabinet berth for himself and a role for his son, former MP Jayant Chaudhary in any future BJP-led government in the State. “As of now, the situation is precariously balanced. Ajit Singh has not indicated whether the offer is acceptable — we hear he is exploring his options,” said a source.
