RLD in NDA: More a loss for INDIA in UP, BJP already in commanding position

The Opposition INDIA alliance is facing yet another crisis. After the JD(U)’s exit from the bloc and the Congress’s stalled seat-sharing talks with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Uttar Pradesh-based Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has now crossed over to the BJP-led NDA.

The alliance was officially confirmed by the parties on Monday, the birth anniversary of RLD founder Ajit Singh, but seemed inevitable after the BJP government led by Narendra Modi conferred the Bharat Ratna on party chief Jayant Chaudhary’s grandfather and former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh.

Earlier known as the Bharatiya Lok Dal, the RLD has had alliances with both Congress-led fronts and BJP-led fronts in the past, with Ajit Singh even serving as a Union minister under then PM Manmohan Singh. Its partnership with the SP is relatively recent, with the two parties first coming together in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

However, while the value of the RLD for all these parties has been its hold among the Jats and farmers in western UP, with Charan Singh also well-regarded in Haryana and Rajasthan, this has been on the decline since 2014 and the rise of the BJP under Modi.

Now, as the RLD moves to the NDA, it’s more a blow to the tottering INDIA bloc than a gain for the BJP, which is playing the long game. Plus, the RLD has been trying to secure more from both its ally SP in UP – making its displeasure evident after the party’s initial offer for the coming Lok Sabha polls – and is seen as carrying a grudge over the Congress offering it just 1 seat in the Rajasthan Assembly polls last year.

Jat population in western UP

In 13 of the 18 districts across western UP – Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Bijnor, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr,