Barely two weeks after Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh refused to be part of a Bihar-like alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Janata Dal (United) and a local outfit BS-4 declared on Monday that they would fight the 2017 Assembly elections together.
No official name for the alliance was, however, announced.
Addressing a joint press conference here, RLD chief Ajit Singh, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and BS-4 leader Bachan Singh said they would contest all the 403 Assembly seats. The partners are in talks with other smaller parties to expand the alliance.
The development is significant as it comes amid talks of a Bihar-like anti-BJP mahagathbandhan in U.P. Speculation was rife of an SP-Congress alliance, along with the RLD and a few other regional parties, after the erstwhile Janata Party members made an appearance at the SP’s silver jubilee function on November 5 and Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishor held meetings with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh.
At the November 5 event, Janata Parivar leaders, including Lalu Prasad and H.D. Dewe Gowda, pitched for a united front against the BJP and called for a collective Opposition for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On November 10, however, Mr. Mulayam Singh ruled out an alliance. His party was only open to mergers, he said.
On Monday, Mr. Sharad Yadav said there were attempts to forge a united front with Mulayam Singh as its leader, but it did not materialize. “I would have merged my party with the SP on Mulayam’s call. But no time is left for this now,” he told reporters.
The leaders spoke with regret about the earlier attempts to involve the SP in an alliance in Bihar. The party had walked out at the last moment.
Mr. Sharad Yadav said the mahagathbandhan did not materialise because of the stand taken by Mr. Mulayam Singh.
Stressing the need for a united platform , K.C Tyagi, JD (U) leader, said it would be difficult to defeat the BJP without a mahagathbandhan, given its high vote percentage in U.P. in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Ajit Singh’s son and former MP Jayant Chaudhary was present at the conference.
