Ajit knocks on Mulayam door for berth in Rajya Sabha

RLD chief Ajit Singh’s desperation to get a Rajya Sabha berth appears to have made him knock on all doors, and finally he is seeking to do business with the Samajwadi Party.

Mr Singh met SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in the national capital on Saturday night after he apparently failed to get the leadership of the JD(U), BJP, Congress and the BSP to back his bid for the Upper House nomination.

“The RLD chief met Netaji (the SP supremo) and sought a pre-poll electoral alliance for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. He wants the SP to ensure his election to the Rajya Sabha, besides inducting his son Jayant Choudhary as a Cabinet minister in the Akhilesh Yadav-led state government,” said a close aide of the SP chief.

The RLD chief had also met the election in-charge of the SP for UP and state minister Shiv Pal Singh Yadav.

“Netaji will consult with other leaders before taking any decision on the possibility of a pre-poll alliance with the RLD. The SP has an independent base in western UP, and the party for long has maintained that it does not seek an alliance with the RLD, though a merger may be given a thought,” added the aide of the SP chief.

Incidentally, the RLD chief had been in talks with the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for the merger of his party with the JD(U), which did not fructify after he was apparently not accommodated for Rajya Sabha nomination.

Afterwards, Mr Singh opened channels with the BJP, but found that the saffron party outright rejected the possibility of any alliance. Subsequently, sources said that the RLD chief met senior leaders of the Congress, who also seemed cold to his overtures. Later, the RLD chief, sources said, met close confidantes of the BSP supremo, who, in turn, conveyed to Mr Singh that the party was not in a position to ensure his Rajya Sabha nomination.

Having lost the political turf to the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RLD chief appears to be finding it difficult to convince other parties that he still commands support from the Jat vote base in western UP.

“The SP has too many ministers and MLAs from western UP, who do not want any truck with the RLD. However, the SP is the last hope for Mr Singh, as the ruling party on its own can win six Rajya Sabha seats in the biennial elections in June,” sources in the SP said.