News Brief
Seat-Sharing Deal Between RLD And BJP "Almost Final", Here's What Jayant Chaudhary Is Set To Get In Return For Jat Votes
Jayant Chaudhary
According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources cited by The Indian Express, the deal for Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) coming into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is "almost final."
The deal includes two Lok Sabha seats and a Rajya Sabha seat. These two Lok Sabha seats can be Baghpat and Bijnor. Baghpat is a legacy seat for RLD as Jayant Chaudhary's father Ajit Singh and grandfather Chaudhary Charan Singh represented it for several times.
However, the seat is represented by BJP MP Satyapal Singh 2014. This time Jayant Chaudhary himself or his wife Charu Singh can contest from Baghpat. The other seat of Bijnor is currently held by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
For the Rajya Sabha seat, under the seat-sharing agreement, former Union agriculture minister Sompal Shastri can be nominated. The BJP can also support the RLD with an MLC seat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, sources said.
The alliance is set to be announced formally in the coming days as a senior BJP leader citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target of more than 400 seats for NDA said, "We will join hands with smaller parties in the different parts of the country."
With RLD's support, the BJP wants to improve its performance in Western UP and consolidate Jat votes as its internal survey showed it lagging in seats like Bijnor, Amroha, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Fatehpur Sikri and Hathras.
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