Lucknow: The Nov 20 bypoll on the Meerapur assembly seat of west UP will set the template for the much-anticipated organisational reshuffle in the Rashtriya Lok Dal, an ally of the BJP.
Sources said RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary will convene a high-level meeting between Nov 20 and Nov 25 to effect organisational rejig in the party to strengthen its presence at the grassroots and bolster its alliance with the BJP in UP and beyond.
RLD national secretary Anupam Mishra confirmed the development but refused to divulge any details. A senior RLD functionary said the meeting will also discuss the challenges faced by the party in augmenting its political influence, especially in UP, which is witnessing a shift in political dynamics amid an opposition, primarily the SP-Congress combine.
Analysts said the byelection in Meerapur could prove to be a testing ground for new leadership in the RLD, which is seeking to recalibrate its strategies in the run-up to 2027 UP assembly elections.
In Meerapur, RLD has fielded Mithilesh Pal, a former MLA who had switched to the BJP before the 2022 assembly elections. Pal, an OBC, to the RLD, apparently as part of a poll strategy of the BJP-backed RLD. Pal is up against Congress-backed SP candidate Sumbal Rana, the daughter-in-law of former BSP MP Kadir Rana.
RLD sources said the party plans to promote efficient organisational functionaries while shunting out the incompetent ones. The party at present has 10 national general secretaries and 10 national secretaries who are entrusted with the job of expanding the organisation in UP and other states. The move also aligns with the party's plans to spread in other poll-bound states, including Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
RLD failed to make any gains in Jammu and Kashmir elections while it was stopped by the BJP from contesting the Haryana elections.
The proposed organisational overhaul in the RLD aligns with the one being initiated in the BJP over the coming weeks. Sources said the RLD may seek to orient itself as per the poll plans of the BJP-led NDA, mainly in UP.
The BJP has already kicked off the process by appointing election in-charges in all 98 organisational districts of UP. The RLD is expected to follow the BJP, which has been seeking to strike a caste balance of its functionaries at the grassroots level to take on a resurgent opposition, mainly the SP, which has been flagging its trademark Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) narrative.