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  India   Nitish’s UP ‘alliance’ finds few takers

Nitish’s UP ‘alliance’ finds few takers

Published : Feb 4, 2016, 10:56 pm IST
Updated : Feb 4, 2016, 10:56 pm IST

Talks of a grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh on the lines of Bihar, has found few takers in the state.

Talks of a grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh on the lines of Bihar, has found few takers in the state.

Any alliance against the BJP without the presence of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party is neither sustainable nor feasible and both these parties are unwilling to be a part of any alliance.

The Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Apna Dal and the Peace Party that are cobbling up the alliance in Uttar Pradesh are essentially non-players in state politics. The JD(U) could not go beyond getting 0.36 per cent votes in the 2012 Assembly elections in UP and that too, when it contested 219 seats. The JD(U) Uttar Pradesh Facebook page is liked by merely 770 people and party retains a passive presence in state politics.

The RJD, on the other hand, is placed in a more or less similar situation. The party had contested four seats in 2012 and ended up with 0.04 per cent votes. The now-on-now-off relationship between Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr Lalu Yadav has left party workers thoroughly confused and no one seems to know whether they have top support or oppose the Akhilesh government.

Both the JD(U) and the RJD have rarely staged any protest and agitation on any issue in Uttar Pradesh and activities in both parties are restricted to issuing press statements — that too, occasionally.

The RLD, on the other hand, has also remains largely sidelined after its rout in the Lok Sabha elections last year. The party, having burnt its bridges with the BJP and then the Congress, is losing its relevance in state politics. The RLD has merely eight members in the UP Assembly and unless it regains lost ground in western UP, the number may go down further. The Peace Party, whose three out of four members, have already revolted against the party chief Dr Ayub, is another spent force and its presence or absence in any alliance will not make much of a difference.

Similarly, the split in the Apna Dal has dented its following to a large extent and the party has become almost defunct after the mother-daughter split. The SP and the BSP — the two key non-BJP players in UP — have already made it clear that they would contest the polls on their own while the Congress, sources claim, would not be willing to give away too many seats to parties that lack presence in the state.

Location: India, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow