The Samajwadi Party’s alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal is almost over and a formal announcement of parting of ways is likely to be made after the conclave of the opposition parties at Patna on June 23. The Jat dominated political outfit, RLD, has decided to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress.
Asked if there was a strain in the relationship of his party with the SP, RLD state president Ramashish Rai said, “The party workers are disappointed with the outcome of the recently-concluded urban local bodies’ polls in Uttar Pradesh. They feel the results could have been different had the SP and RLD fought together.”
Rai, however, stressed that “since we are aiming for a big transformation, the RLD wants the SP, Congress and Azad Samaj Party to sink their differences and work together to bring about a change.”
SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, when contacted, said his party’s alliance with the RLD was “fully intact”.
A senior RLD leader said the rank and file of the party wanted their party chief Jayant Chaudhary to free himself from the shadow of the SP and “not become a martyr” in case Akhilesh Yadav wanted to go alone in the parliamentary polls.
“The RLD workers of Uttar Pradesh in general and those from the western parts of the state in particular, feel that Akhilesh Yadav will finish the RLD. The party has a natural alliance with the Congress,” he added.
“Muslims have made up their mind to go with the Congress. And, if the RLD, Congress and Azad Samaj Party come together, there will be no need for anyone else. RLD workers have already said that there is no threat from the Congress. The threat is from Akhilesh Yadav,” the senior RLD leader said.