The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) announced their alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming parliamentary election. Both parties described the alliance as a continuation of their existing partnership.
“We fought the 2022 Assembly polls and 2019 Lok Sabha elections together; the declaration is the continuation of the process. Both parties will work on the ground unitedly to make sure that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bites the dust in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Yadav said.
Announcing the tie-up, the SP president Akhilesh Yadav wrote on X: “Congratulations to everyone on the alliance of RLD and SP. Let us all unite for victory.” The SP chief also posted a photo of himself with the RLD president Jayant Chaudhary. Reposting the photo, the RLD chief said: “Always ready to protect national and constitutional values. We expect all workers of our alliance to move forward together for the development and prosperity of our region.”
Western U.P. focus
Though there has not been any official declaration on the number of seats each side has decided to contest, political circles are abuzz with rumours that RLD candidates will contest seven seats in western U.P., including seats in Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, and Mathura.
“Both parties are already in alliance. The formal announcement is for workers to work in co-ordination for 2024 polls,” said RLD general secretary Trilok Tyagi. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the RLD allied with the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party, and fought three seats, in Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, and Baghpat. It lost Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat to the BJP in very close contests.
