As SP gets ready to plug RLD-shaped hole in west UP, Congress may demand more seats

With the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) all set to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), its INDIA bloc ally Samajwadi Party (SP) will have a gap to fill in western Uttar Pradesh where the Jayant Chaudhary-led party enjoys the support of a significant section of the Jat community. The Jats constitute a sizeable chunk of the electorate in western UP districts such as Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Saharanpur, Aligarh, and Hapur.

While a section of SP leaders said the party leadership should promote other Jat leaders in the region in a bid to replace the vacuum that Jayant would leave, another group of party functionaries said the RLD’s exit would not affect the party in the region. Another consequence of the RLD’s exit will be the Congress demanding more seats during its negotiations with the Akhilesh Yadav-led party.

“Jayant ji did help us get the votes of the Jats who were against the BJP for issues like farmer protests, wrestler’s protests etc. But the Jat voter has been with the BJP for a while now and votes for the saffron party. Our party is going to lose some votes and we should try and fill that gap by promoting other Jat leaders in places where the community has influence. It is up to the central leadership of the party to identify such leaders and make them more prominent,” said an SP leader in Muzaffarnagar.

An SP leader in Amroha district claimed Jayant’s exit would not affect the party. The reason, he explained, is that Jayant anyway brought only the anti-BJP vote to the SP and that will remain unaffected. “Those who are against the BJP will continue to vote for the Opposition. Jayant ji has some influence but not so much that he would be able to sway all the anti-BJP votes back to the ruling party,” said the