As Jayant leads RLD to BJP, west UP waits for clearer signs to follow him

Messages celebrating the Bharat Ratna for Chaudhary Charan Singh flank roads all through Baghpat. Some have been put up by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), a reincarnation of the party Charan Singh founded; others by the BJP. What it means for Uttar Pradesh’s newest allies, though, is not as clear.

Voters of the RLD, whose base is restricted to this Jat belt in western Uttar Pradesh, are waiting and watching as to how much space Charan Singh’s grandson and the party’s leader, Jayant Chaudhary, gets in the alliance with the domineering BJP.

And, it may all come down to Baghpat, the traditional Lok Sabha seat of “the Chaudhary family”. With the specifics of the RLD-BJP alliance not clear yet, it has not escaped the notice of voters that hoardings have come up at several strategic points in Baghpat declaring: “Lehar badi karari hai, hamara Satya Pal sab par bhari hai. (There is a strong wave, our Satya Pal is stronger than all the others).”

The reference is to Satya Pal Singh, the two-time sitting BJP MP from Baghpat, and a local hero, having retired as Mumbai Police Commissioner.

Satya Pal’s two wins have both come against the Chaudhary family – against Jayant in 2019 by 23,000-plus votes; and a more comprehensive win against Jayant’s father Ajit Singh in 2014, relegating him to the third position.

“Our claim is strong because Satya Palji is the sitting MP. He has got development works done here — from highways to Railways. If he gets the Baghpat ticket, he will certainly win with a big margin after the support of the RLD. There will be no division of Jat votes,” says a local BJP leader.

Counters RLD district president Rampal Dhama: “If Satya Pal is a two-time MP, Bade Chaudhary (Ajit Singh) was a six-term MP from Baghpat. Charan