After the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), the Congress and the Aam Admi Party (AAP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) will also hold kisan panchayats in western Uttar Pradesh, starting with Tappal in Aligarh on March 5. It will be followed by panchayats in Kasganj and Mathura.
Though the SP workers have their lent support at the Ghazipur protest site and its local leaders have shared the stage with Jayant Chaudhary at RLD’s panchayats in the region, the party didn’t hold its own panchayats.
Observers find the late entry of the leading opposition party of the State in the panchayat trail baffling. When RLD’s panchayats started with Shamli on February 5, many felt that the SP was giving space to its electoral partner in the region to flex its muscles.
Sources in the RLD say perhaps Jayant Chaudhary’s well-attended panchayats in Basti and Lakhimpur Kheri in the eastern and central parts of the State have pushed the senior partner to show its worth in the western part of the State. “However, common sense says the SP should hold panchayats in its strongholds in eastern Uttar Pradesh to give voice to the farmers’ discontent,” said a senior RLD leader. “You have to give credit to Jayant for taking the lead in picking the farmers mood early. When he was on the ground, the SP leadership was only tweeting,” he added.
On record, Girish Yadav, district president of Aligarh unit of the SP, said, “Our senior leadership was not getting permission to hold panchayat. As soon as the administration granted us permission, we are holding a panchayat in Tappal.”
He said local RLD leaders had been invited and that there was no divide between the two parties in the region. “Elections are still some time away. At present, the idea is to address the concerns of farmers,” he said.
‘Local aspirations’
Both parties tried to play down the posters and whatsapp messages circulating in Aligarh where Jayant Chaudhary had been projected as the Chief Minister in 2022. “These are local aspirations. Everybody knows the SP is the contender for the top post but the RLD would play an important role in taking it there,” said Sunil Rohata, spokesperson of the RLD.