Even as an electoral alliance among the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal is in the works, a tie-up with the RLD has not gone down well with many cadres of the other two parties as they fear that the BJP will benefit from it in western Uttar Pradesh.
Most of the workers of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party The Hindu talked to felt that the RLD might not get them the votes of the Jat community in the region.
“On the ground, there is a lot of scepticism. One big reason is that the RLD will field many Muslim candidates in western U.P., which will lead to a counter-polarisation. Howsoever sympathetic the Jats might be of RLD chief Ajit Singh, they still don’t want to give the political leadership to Muslims,” Abhimanyu Tyagi, spokesperson of the Meerut District Congress Committee, said.
Mr. Tyagi said the Jat community had traditionally been the vote bank of the RLD, but had abandoned the party in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
It was now disillusioned with the BJP. But despite that, the dominant community would not prefer to vote for a Muslim candidate.
“It is true that Jats and farmers in the region are angry with the BJP because of demonetisation and the absence of solid measures to help the distressed farmers. They have lately shown an inclination towards the RLD, which they claim would never have allowed so much distress to the farmers. But they would never want to vote for Muslim candidates,” he said.
Many SP leaders and workers felt the RLD may not be able to transfer Jat votes to the SP and the Congress.
A senior SP associate, who is a faculty member in Lucknow University, told The Hindu on condition of anonymity that the party was not comfortable with the RLD.
“Given the popularity of Akhilesh Yadav, we are confident that RLD candidates will get SP’s votes in a particular constituency, but there is a predominant view that a SP candidate may not get the votes of Jats. It is the Congress which has been pitching for the RLD as its old alliance partner,” he said.
“Overall, I feel that the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP’s alliance with the RLD will backfire.
The BSP has given ticket to many Muslims and the RLD will also do that. Muslim votes will be divided.”
“I can see the alliance helping the BJP in Assembly constituencies such as Thana Bhawan, Sardhana and Muzaffarnagar, to name a few. Jats would never vote for a Muslim candidate,” the SP leader added.
