The Jayant factor: What’s in the big shift for RLD, BJP

It has been almost a week since Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Singh Chaudhary announced his decision to leave the Samajwadi Party (SP) camp and cross over to the NDA. So far, his ‘friend’ and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has not criticised him or made any direct attack on him. Jayant, too, has not made any comment on the SP or Akhilesh.

This, sources in both the SP and RLD say, is a sign of not just the camaraderie the two UP politicians shared, but an acknowledgment that the move to the NDA may be the most pragmatic way forward for a party and leader whose hold over Western UP has been steadily shrinking.

Speaking about his party chief and his crossover to the NDA fold, an RLD leader said, “Woh kam bolte hain lekin jab aur jahan jawab dena hota hai toh sakhti se dete hain (He doesn’t speak much but when he needs to, he does so firmly).”

It’s this part of his personality, this leader insists, that came into play when Jayant ended weeks of speculation with his not-so-subtle tweet, “Dil jeet liya”, in response to the Prime Minister’s announcement of Bharat Ratna for his grandfather and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.

A couple of days later, he announced his shift to the NDA camp, dealing a second blow to the Opposition INDIA alliance that had barely recovered from the JD(U)’s exit.

Heir apparent, ties with SP

Born in 1978 in the US, where his father Ajit Singh worked as a software engineer, Jayant, who graduated from Delhi University and did his Master’s in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics, made his political debut in 2009. Under the close watch of his father, Jayant contested — and won — the Mathura Lok Sabha seat in the Lok Sabha elections of that year.

While Ajit Singh managed to