RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary meets Akhilesh Yadav over seat-sharing, tussle continues

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) national vice-president Jayant Chaudhary, the son of RLD supremo Ajit Singh, met Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav in New Delhi on Wednesday for the final round of talks on seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, going by Chaudhary's reaction after the meeting, it appears that the tussle continued. "It was a good meeting with Akhilesh ji. I feel that we will be successful in our effort," Chaudhary said as quoted by news agency ANI. The SP and the BSP, had on January 12, announced their alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. Both Akhilesh and Mayawati’s parties decided on a 50-50 seat-sharing deal under which each party will contest 38 seats. 

It was a good meeting with Akhilesh ji. I feel that we will be successful in our effort, says RLD national vice-president Jayant Chaudhary after meeting @yadavakhilesh over alliance in Uttar Pradesh

📷: ANI

More updates: https://t.co/vyJFsEUUKF pic.twitter.com/H8OEkF3hna

— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) January 16, 2019

Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary neither confirmed nor denied the possible meeting between the two leaders. “Maybe, they are meeting tomorrow but I am not aware of it,” he said as quoted by HT. The meeting is also crucial as it will decide if the Ajit Singh-led party will find a place in the SP-BSP alliance. 

Read More | Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav meets BSP supremo Mayawati on 63rd birthday

Both the parties have decided not to contest in Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, respectively. However, Congress has been kept out of the alliance. When asked, Mayawati said that the two seats have been left for the smaller parties. While Mayawati did not even name the RLD, Akhilesh did not give a direct reply on whether two seats had been left for the RLD.

Senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, however, announced a day later in Firozabad that the alliance had left two seats for the RLD only. Initially insisting on half-a-dozen seats RLD chief Ajit Singh is said to have scaled down the demand to three seats, as quoted by the daily. If sources are to be believed, Akhilesh might just agree one seat from the SP’s quota for the RLD during his meeting with Jayant Chaudhary.