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  India   Ajit Singh’s Rajya Sabha hope dashed as SP refuses to cooperate

Ajit Singh’s Rajya Sabha hope dashed as SP refuses to cooperate

Published : May 31, 2016, 2:44 am IST
Updated : May 31, 2016, 2:44 am IST

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh’s last ditch effort to revive his political space in Uttar Pradesh and get himself a Rajya Sabha berth was dashed on Monday after Samajwadi Party general secre

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh (Photo: PTI)
 Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh (Photo: PTI)

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh’s last ditch effort to revive his political space in Uttar Pradesh and get himself a Rajya Sabha berth was dashed on Monday after Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav ruled out any truck with him. Earlier, Mr Singh’s moves to bargain with political outfits like JD(U), Congress, BJP and BSP were rebuffed by all.

Mr Singh had reportedly approached all these outfits and deamanded a Rajya Sabha seat for himself for lending his support for the UP polls. Incidentally, the SP was Mr Singh’s last hope and he had met the former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav in a bid to broker an electoral alliance for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. However, Mr Ramgopal Yadav on Monday sought to pour cold waters on the overtures of the RLD chief by stating that the Jat leader had alreadly lost his credibility. “Why would any political party have an alliance with a party which has lost credibility,” Mr Yadav said.

“Nothing is bigger than credibility in one’s life, politics and society. If someone loses his credibility, he does not mean anything. An alliance with a person who has lost his credibility in politics will not be a wise thing for any political party,” Mr Ramgopal Yadav said in a caustic statement.

While Mr Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is the election in-charge of the SP in the state, appears to have been favouring a localised tie up with the RLD chief in the western UP, the Yadav clan seems split on the move. The UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Mr Ramgopal Yadav are stated to share close chemistry, and they have earlier thwarted the move for the coming together of all Janata Parivar outfits as a single entity under the leadership of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Sources said that the RLD ranks are also divided over the move of Mr Ajit Singh, with a section of the party leaders keen on the vetern Jat leader to pass on the baton of leadership to his son Jayant Choudhary and retire from politics. “Mr Ajit Singh’s political career has been all about enetring into pacts with all political parties as per the convenience, which only eroded his credibility. Mr Jayant Choudhary can revive the legacy of his grandfather Choudhary Charan Singh and regain the lost political space in the western UP,” said a senior RLD functionary.

Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats up for the grabs, the SP is all set to win six, the BSP three, and the BJP one, which leaves one seat open for the permutations and combinations. The SP will have surplus MLAs after electing six Rajya Sabha MPs, which, the RLD chief is apparently eyeing to get a Rajya Sabha nomination.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi