To carry forward the understanding reached at lucknow during the Samajwadi Party’s silver jubilee foundation day function on November 5, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav met Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) chief Ajit Singh in Delhi. State SP president Shivpal Yadav was also present at the meeting.
SP sources in lucknow said that a consensus has almost been reached on the broad contours of an alliance after the meeting of Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishor, aka PK with the SP chief in lucknow.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who was earlier reluctant to meet PK, also had a long meeting with him in lucknow on Saturday.
Ajit Singh is said to be pressurising the SP for an early settlement of the seat sharing formula as there is little time left for the next Assembly polls.
As per the assessment of the RlD, its electoral prospects have considerably soared after the Jat agitation for reservation in Haryana. The violent crackdown on Jat leaders by the Haryana Government has alienated the politically-dominant community and they want to teach the BJP a lesson in the UP polls.
RlD sources said if they are able to stitch an alliance with the SP, then significant sections of Muslim voters would also veer towards it, making it a winning alliance.
The SP, however, is wary of finalising the alliance with the RlD until talks with other parties of the Janata Parivaar and the Congress reach a definite conclusion.
Sources said that in view of the unpredictable past of Jat leader Ajit Singh, the SP is in favour of working out the minute details before committing to an alliance with the RlD.
In the last two decades of its existence, RlD has allied with every party including the Congress, the BJP and the SP. Ajit Singh has also ditched every party.
In 2002 Assembly polls, Ajit Singh’s party contested the polls as a BJP ally and later joined hands with the SP in 2003. In the Assembly poll of 2007, he ditched the SP too.
The foremost issue before the SP is the leadership of the alliance. The SP and also the CM of UP, Akhilesh Yadav apprehend that the RlD could create problems on the leadership issue in case the alliance is voted to majority and the SP is short of numbers in forming the Government on its own.
SP sources said that the RlD leader could push the name of his son and former MP Jayant Chaudhary for the top job in the State.