Poll tactic: RLD willing to give high-stake Kairana to SP, BSP
Pankaj Shah | TNN | Updated: Jan 11, 2019, 13:21 IST
LUCKNOW: More than six months after it wrested Kairana from the BJP in byelections, Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal is mulling to give the high stake seat to allies SP or BSP in the Lok Sabha elections.
The seat was won by RLD’s Tabassum Begam who defeated BJP’s Mriganka Singh by 55,000 votes. Begam had quit the Samajwadi Party and joined RLD before the bypolls.
Kairana victory was significant for two reasons. One, Tabassum Begam became the first Muslim candidate to win a Lok Sabha seat from UP after 2014 Lok Sabha elections amid tactic support from the BSP and the Congress. Second, the defeat was another big blow to the BJP after its defeat in Gorakhpur and Phulpur byelections .
Sources privy to the meeting between RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said that Jayant pressed for fielding a candidate from Muzaffarnagar, which has Jat voters in sizeable numbers instead of Kairana where Gujjar voters are more dominant. While seat sharing between RLD and SP is yet to be finalized, speculations are rife that Tabassum Begam may go back to SP and likely to be fielded from Kairana again. This is being pitted as a tactical move to strengthen the grand alliance against the BJP.
While RLD is eyeing six seats — Mathura, Amroha, Baghpat, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar and Bulandshahr, the SP is said to be not ready for Mathura, Baghpat and Muzzaffarnagar.
RLD sources said the party has started preparing ground on these three seats, starting from Mathura, which is likely to be contested by Jayant himself. He had lost the seat to BJP’s Hema Malini in 2014. On Wednesday, Ajit Singh kicked off a public contact programme in Kosi Kalan area of Mathura as part of RLD’s campaign. Sources said that similar programmes are proposed to be organised in other two seats as well.
Party state president Masood Ahmad said that Jayant will visit Lucknow again on January 12 to flag off a bike rally from party office to Lucknow University in a show of strength
The seat was won by RLD’s Tabassum Begam who defeated BJP’s Mriganka Singh by 55,000 votes. Begam had quit the Samajwadi Party and joined RLD before the bypolls.
Kairana victory was significant for two reasons. One, Tabassum Begam became the first Muslim candidate to win a Lok Sabha seat from UP after 2014 Lok Sabha elections amid tactic support from the BSP and the Congress. Second, the defeat was another big blow to the BJP after its defeat in Gorakhpur and Phulpur byelections .
Sources privy to the meeting between RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said that Jayant pressed for fielding a candidate from Muzaffarnagar, which has Jat voters in sizeable numbers instead of Kairana where Gujjar voters are more dominant. While seat sharing between RLD and SP is yet to be finalized, speculations are rife that Tabassum Begam may go back to SP and likely to be fielded from Kairana again. This is being pitted as a tactical move to strengthen the grand alliance against the BJP.
While RLD is eyeing six seats — Mathura, Amroha, Baghpat, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar and Bulandshahr, the SP is said to be not ready for Mathura, Baghpat and Muzzaffarnagar.
RLD sources said the party has started preparing ground on these three seats, starting from Mathura, which is likely to be contested by Jayant himself. He had lost the seat to BJP’s Hema Malini in 2014. On Wednesday, Ajit Singh kicked off a public contact programme in Kosi Kalan area of Mathura as part of RLD’s campaign. Sources said that similar programmes are proposed to be organised in other two seats as well.
Party state president Masood Ahmad said that Jayant will visit Lucknow again on January 12 to flag off a bike rally from party office to Lucknow University in a show of strength
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