RLD veers toward SP-BSP alliance in UP

After being left out initially during the announcement of the alliance between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) appeared to be veering toward the alliance.

RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary, who met SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday, hinted at joining the alliance. ''RLD will get respectable number of seats....we will fight the polls together,'' Jayant said after meeting Akhilesh here.

Though he did not elaborate, according to sources in the SP, the RLD might be given ''three to four'' seats by the alliance. The RLD has been insisting on five seats.

The SP and the BSP have decided to contest 38 seats each in the state leaving two for the smaller outfits, that chose to join them. They also decided not to field their candidates at Rabareli and Amethi, represented by Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi respectively.

''The SP may spare a seat or two for the RLD from its quota of 38 seats,'' said a senior SP leader while speaking to DH here.

Sources said that one or two SP candidates might also be fielded on RLD symbol. In last year's Kairana Lok Sabha by-polls, SP nominee Tabassum Hasan had contested on RLD symbol and defeated the BJP nominee.

Sources said that both the Congress, which had been excluded from the SP-BSP alliance and the BJP had contacted RLD leaders after it was left out.

Though Mayawati was not very keen on having the RLD in the alliance given the animosity between the 'Jats', RLD's core vote bank, and 'Jatavs' (BSP supporters) in the western region of the state, Akhilesh did not want the RLD to join hands with the BJP or the Congress.