SP, RLD forge alliance to corner BJP in western UP, hopes farming community will back them

Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal on Tuesday held their first joint rally in Merrut for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls early next year signalling their intent to give a tough challenge to BJP.

The RLD has its strength in the western part of the state where the BJP did well in the last assembly polls as also in the past two Lok Sabha elections.

Using coinages that people can remember, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary hit out at the BJP and primarily focused their attack on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Yadav has sought to ally with smaller parties in the state in order to pose a formidable challenge to the BJP. He has stitched an alliance with RLD, Mahan Dal of Keshav Dev Maurya and Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a former BJP ally.

There is also a possibility of the Aam Aadmi Party and Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samjawadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) allying with the Samajwadi Party.

The SP-RLD alliance holds significance in western Uttar Pradesh in the backdrop of the long agitation of farmers against three farm laws, which have now been withdrawn.

The western part of the state has a large section of the farming community and SP and RLD would want consolidation of votes of Jat and Muslim communities in their favour, which can be a deciding factor in about 25 seats in Western Uttar Pradesh.

However, the caste arithmetic may have its own dynamics and various caste groups could again gravitate towards the BJP. The top leadership of RLD has been from the Jat community. The BJP has several MLAs from the community.

The BJP won nearly 50 of 71 assembly seats in western Uttar Pradesh in the last assembly polls and its rivals have a lot of catching up to do in the forthcoming polls.

The efficient delivery of welfare schemes at the grassroots by the BJP-led government at the Centre has been a factor that helps build momentum in the party's favour.

The Centre has been running schemes for the vulnerable sections during the COVID-19 pandemic and focusing on improving infrastructure in cities to woo the urban voters. The Centre has recently rolled back excise tax on petrol and diesel.

At the rally in Merrut on Tuesday, both Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhary said that the voters were yearning for change in the state.

"Youth do not have jobs in Uttar Pradesh, farmers here want to get rid of the BJP government. They have defrauded the farmers, their promises were fake. Sugarcane farmers want their due payments," Akhilesh Yadav said.

He made a special appeal to farmers. "The BJP's sun is certain to set and set forever. The support of the public is telling us that farmers will have their say now. The farmers have been crushed and their dignity taken away, the farmers have made up their mind that BJP will have to go from UP," he said.

Yadav added that BJP's "double engine government has failed" in the state.

Jayant Chaudhary said that an SP-RLD government will honour the memory of those who had died during the agitation against three farm laws.

"Today I want to say that Akhileshji and I are walking together and will now form a double engine government. We will honour our martyr farmers in Meerut as soon as our government is formed," he said.

The RLD chief said that they will gather in Aligarh on December 23 and mark 'Kisan Diwas'.

(ANI)