Why Jayant Chaudhary joining NDA wasn't just about Bharat Ratna for Charan Singh

DIFFERENCES WITH SAMAJWADI PARTY

RLD leaders say differences had cropped up between Jayant and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav over distribution of Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. Even in the seven seats offered by the SP, the party wanted its own candidates to contest three seats on the RLD symbol. A senior RLD functionary claims his party wanted the Muzaffarnagar seat, but Akhilesh was insistent on fielding the SP’s Harendra Malik. Soon after a meeting with Jayant, a photo of Malik and his MLA son with Akhilesh had sprung up on SP’s X handle. The picture sent out a wrong message to the RLD cadre and also pissed off Jayant, says the functionary. Another RLD leader claims Akhilesh, like the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, was forcing his candidates on the Lok Sabha seats the RLD wanted to contest.

A NEW BJP OFFER

RLD sources say their party had been in talks with the BJP for the past two years. Jayant had turned down a BJP offer during the 2022 state polls. The next year, he rejected an offer to merge his party with the BJP. A revised deal was suggested for the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP, according to sources, offered three seats (two Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat or three Lok Sabha seats), a ministerial berth at the Centre and another in the Yogi Adityanath government in the state. Besides, there was also the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, for Charan Singh, a former prime minister.

UNCERTAIN OPPOSITION

RLD functionaries claim Jayant was unhappy with the Opposition INDIA bloc’s state of affairs as well as narrative. He felt the alliance lacked ammo to counter the BJP on the ground. Differences between INDIA constituents over distribution of seats and Nitish Kumar’s surprise switch back to the NDA seemed to suggest that the wind was blowing in the BJP’s favour. Against this uncertainty in the INDIA front was a solid offer from the BJP.

PARTY SYMBOL AT STAKE

RLD sources say the party feared losing its election symbol (hand pump). In 2023, the Election Commission had withdrawn state/ regional party status from the RLD in Uttar Pradesh over its failure to get the mandatory 6 per cent of total votes in the assembly elections. Losing the symbol would diminish the party’s appeal, they felt.

The RLD had fought the Lok Sabha election in 2019 in alliance with the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). It lost all its three seats of Mathura, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar. The SP and BSP won 5 and 10 seats, respectively. In the 2022 state election, the RLD had an alliance with the SP and won eight of its 32 seats. Later, the SP also gave a Rajya Sabha seat to Jayant.

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