RLD times rally with Nitish's in Varanasi

Lucknow: Snubbed by JD(U) for seeking a Rajya Sabha berth, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh has asked his son Jayant Chaudhary to hold a rally in Gorakhpur to coincide with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's in Varanasi on May 12.
Sources said Jayant will fly down to Gorakhpur to hold a rally during which merger of a lesser known Poorvanchal Rajya Banao Dal will merge with the RLD.The 37-year-old Jat leader will subsequently visit Kushinagar the next day for another party convention. RLD state president Munna Singh Chauhan confirmed that Jayant Chaudhary will visit Gorakhpur on May 12. "That will be our own party function," he said.
The JD(U) reacted sharply. Party national general secretary K C Tyagi said they have not invited Ajit for Nitish's rally. "There is no point inviting RLD leaders to Varanasi. It will be our party show," he said, speaking to TOI. The rally is scheduled in Pindri assembly constituency, under Varanasi district.
Tyagi refused to comment on the growing bitterness between JD(U) and RLD, but sources said the JD(U) brass was particularly angry with Ajit Singh's move to open backdoor negotiations with the BJP to gain entry to the upper house.
A senior JD(U) leader said the proposed merger of JD(U) and RLD would have only strengthened the latter. He said Ajit Singh's step also left Prashant Kishore, the political strategist of JD(U)-and now of Congress-stumped. "Prashant was working on a potential merger of the two political outfits for stitching a Nitish Kumar-led front to take on Narendra Modi when Ajit backed out," said the leader. He confirmed that Kishore was in regular touch with the Jat leader and his son. "But they ditched us and it was a big embarrassment for us," he said.
Ajit Singh and Jayant could not be contacted for comment (calls went unanswered), while a senior RLD leader claimed Ajit was approached by a top BJP functionary for a potential merger. RLD sources said Ajit agreed for a pre-poll alliance but bargained heavily for a Rajya Sabha seat, conversion of the 12 Tughlaq Road bungalow into a memorial in the name of his father, Chaudhary Charan Singh and at least 45 assembly seats to contest in 2017 assembly elections.