News Analysis India

Tag: Rashtriya Lok Dal

  • Modi 3.0: Akhilesh Yadav takes jibe at Modi 3.0, says “government stuck in limbo…”

    LUCKNOW: Ahead of Narendra Modi being sworn in as Prime Minister for the third consecutive term on Sunday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at Modi 3.0, stating that a government stuck in limbo is not a government.In a post in Hindi on social media platform X the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav wrote, “Upar se juda koi taar nahin, neeche koi adhaar nahin, adhar mein joh ataki hue woh toh koi sarkaar nahin (The government stuck in limbo is not a government).”Newly elected members of parliament who are among those probable to be included in the new Cabinet and Council of Ministers of Narendra Modi-led government were on Sunday afternoon invited for high tea at the Prime Minister’s residence ahead of the oath-taking ceremony later this evening.Modi will be sworn in as the Prime Minister of India for a historic third time today at 7:15 pm.AllUttar PradeshMaharashtraTamil NaduWest BengalBiharKarnatakaAndhra PradeshTelanganaKeralaMadhya PradeshRajasthanDelhiOther StatesBJP leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Sarbananda Sonowal were seen arriving at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, the residence of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi to attend the tea meeting.BJP leaders Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Manohar Lal Khattar, Shivraj Singh Chouhan were among others who arrived for the tea meeting.The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) unanimously passed a resolution to elect Narendra Modi as their leader on June 5.Earlier on June 9, according to sources in the Samajwadi Party, seven SP MLAs, including Chief Whip Manoj Pandey, surprised the party by supporting the BJP’s candidate during the Rajya Sabha elections.

    Following this, Yadav has initiated steps to revoke the membership of these seven MLAs, for which an official letter is also being prepared by the party, which will soon be submitted to the UP Legislative Assembly Speaker by the Samajwadi Party.

    The list of these seven MLAs includes Rakesh Pratap Singh from Amethi Gauriganj, Manoj Pandey from Raebareli Unchahar, Rakesh Pandey from Ambedkarnagar, Pooja Pal from Prayag, Vinod Chaturvedi, Ashutosh Verma, and Abhay Singh.

    According to the Election Commission of India, the Samajwadi Party (SP) won 37 seats, the BJP won 33, Congress won 6, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won 2, and Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) and Apna Dal (Soneylal) won 1 seat each in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. (ANI)

  • Comparing Charan Singh’s legacy to ‘small election’ of 2024 belittles him: Jayant Chaudhary

    To compare the legacy of Chaudhary Charan Singh with a “small election” of 2024 is belittling him, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary said, refusing to spill beans over the said “deal” between his party and the BJP. He was asked about speculations of the RLD joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and switching over from the INDIA bloc after Bharat Ratna was announced for his grandfather.

    “If you compare a small election of 2024 with the great legacy of Chaudhary Charan Singh, you are belittling him and insulting his supporters. It is an insult to an honour like Bharat Ratna,” Chaudhary said.

    Asked about the allegations of a “deal” between RLD and BJP, he said, “The process of deciding on Bharat Ratna is a pious process. The government takes decisions in the interest of the nation, keeping in mind people’s sentiment… 37 years after his death, a government thought of honouring him. If they are seeing something wrong with this and if they think there is a transaction, it shows their ideological decline.” Asked what went wrong with the Samajwadi Party, he said it is an “internal matter”, adding that he will explain later why he changed his stand.

    “Those are internal matters, based on trust. Whatever discussions took place between me and Akhilesh ji, I will not discuss it outside… When our alliance is decided and announced, I will be able to tell why I changed my stand and the way ahead,” he said.

    On his earlier remarks that he will not “flip like a coin”, Singh said there should be an “expiry date” to remarks. “This used to happen earlier as well, but earlier the records were not available all the time. In the times of internet, you can also see my statements from 20 years ago when I fought with the support of the BJP and became an MP from Mathura. There is an expiry date to statements, something was said during poll campaign… Amit Shah had said something about me, I said something to keep my people together. I did not intend to insult him, nor did he take it personally. Otherwise, would Chaudhary sahab get a Bharat Ratna?” he said. “I am responsible for Lok Dal. My responsibility is to see how I can do better for my people and how I can help farmers. I will take a decision based on that,” he added.

    The remarks come amid speculations of the RLD joining BJP-led NDA ahead of the general elections.

    Singh on Saturday praised the Modi government for honouring his grandfather and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh with Bharat Ratna.

    On Friday, after the announcement that Bharat Ratna will be conferred on Singh, Chaudhary had said “Dil jeet liya (They have won my heart)”.

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  • Eye On Mission 80 In Uttar Pradesh, BJP Seals Seat Deal With Jayant Chaudhary`s RLD; Check Power-Sharing Formula

    Jayant Chaudhary’s party will get two ministerial positions, one as a cabinet minister and the other as a minister of state with independent charge. 

  • Debates on Gyanvapi, similar issues should have no place in modern India: RLD chief

    Chaudhary, who will be filing his nomination on Monday, remained tight-lipped on whether he was upset with the apparent delay by the SP in announcing his name for the Rajya Sabha polls.

  • ‘Doors are always open’: BJP offers ‘friendship’ to Jayant Chaudhary as it reaches out to Jat leaders

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary has chosen the “wrong home”, Union Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday as he reached out to Jat leaders at a meeting here ahead of the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP suggested that its doors were open for the RLD leader.

    According to sources, while talking to Jat leaders from western Uttar Pradesh, Shah said the ideology of both the party and the community is the same as both keep national interest first and have been fighting against ”invaders”.

    The meeting held at the residence of BJP MP Parvesh Verma was also attended by the party’s prominent Jat leaders including Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan who is an MP from Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh.

    Jats are a deciding factor in almost all the seats in western Uttar Pradesh, a region where the RLD enjoys influence among the community.

    The RLD, led by former prime minister Charan Singh’s grandson Jayant Chaudhary, has joined hands with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party this time.

    “In the meeting, we have suggested that people of the Jat community talk to Jayant Chaudhary. Doors of the BJP are always open,” Verma later told reporters.

    The BJP’s outreach is significant as there are apprehensions that the over year-long farmers’ agitation against the three agri laws, which have since been repealed, will affect its prospects.

    However, the RLD leader gave a terse response.

    “Invite those +700 farmer families which you have destroyed, not me,” he tweeted in Hindi.

    Talking about RLD, Shah said at the meeting that Jayant Chaudhary “has chosen the wrong house”.

    Citing the various steps taken by the Modi government for the community, Shah said the it appointed three Jat governors and has nine Jat MPs.

    Expressing gratitude towards the community, Shah said the BJP got the community’s blessings due to which the party could win in 2014, 2017, 2019 elections.

    “With your support, I believe you will again make us win this election as well,” he said.

    Shah said the BJP government named a university in Aligarh in Jat king’s name, has constructed expressways and brought in Jewar airport for employment and prosperity in western Uttar Pradesh.

    Pagdi, a symbol of Jat pride, was tied on the head of Shah in the meeting.

    Balyan said that Jats would never prefer SP chief Akhilesh Yadav as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

    The developments came a day before Shah and several other top BJP leaders, including Union Minister Rajnath Singh, were scheduled to visit western Uttar Pradesh.

    Shah held similar meetings with leaders from the Jat community ahead of the 2017 assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

  • 2022 UP polls: RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary hints at forming an alliance with Samajwadi Party

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary on Friday hinted at forming an alliance with Samajwadi Party in the state.

    The RLD chief said, “By this month-end, we (RLD and Samajwadi Party) will take the decision and will come together.”

    Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to go for Assembly polls in 2022.

    Previously, in the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 312 seats out of the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly while Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) won 19 and Congress could manage to win only seven seats. The rest of the seats were bagged by other candidates.

    Chaudhary further welcomed the Centre’s call to squash the farm laws.

    He said, “I welcome the Centre’s decision. It is the victory of farmers. The farmers andolan had been going on for almost one year. They have faced a lot. I congratulate the farmers for this win,” he said.

    In a major move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced the repealing of the three Central farm laws.

    Farmers have been protesting against the government’s three farm laws since they were passed by the Centre in 2020.

    The three farm laws are as follows: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act provides for setting up a mechanism allowing the farmers to sell their farm produces outside the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs). Any licence-holder trader can buy the produce from the farmers at mutually agreed prices. This trade of farm produces will be free of mandi tax imposed by the state governments.

    The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act allows farmers to do contract farming and market their produces freely. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act is an amendment to the existing Essential Commodities Act. 

  • UP Polls: Priyanka Gandhi meets RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary 

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary at the airport here, and later both of them left for Delhi in a chartered aircraft of the Chhattisgarh government, a development that has set tongues wagging in political circles.

    After addressing the ‘Pratigya Rally’ in Gorakhpur on Sunday, Gandhi had reached Lucknow to take a flight to Delhi, and it was during the same time that Chaudhary also reached the airport.

    Commenting on the incident, a senior RLD leader told PTI on Monday, “Priyanka Gandhi and Jayant Chaudhary left for Delhi in the chartered aircraft of Chhattisgarh government on Sunday.”

    On being asked if the meeting is being perceived as arm-twisting tactics of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to exert pressure on the Samajwadi Party (SP) with regard to seat sharing for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls, he said, “No pressure has been exerted by anyone. This was an informal meeting (shishtaachaar bhet), and it was prevalent among leaders of earlier times. The BJP has changed this trend, and people have become enemies of each other in politics.”

    Describing the sequence of events at the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport here, the RLD leader said, “Jayant Chaudhary’s flight was at 5.30 pm, and he had reached the airport at around 4 pm. I was also there. After this, at around 5 pm, Priyanka Gandhi reached there. Gandhi offered him to take the flight, but the RLD chief was reluctant to board the same flight. His flight was later delayed. Jayant told Priyanka that two people were accompanying him, and if all of them could be accommodated. On this, the Congress leader, after speaking to the aircraft crew, got the ticket of Trilok Tyagi (one of those accompanying Jayant) cancelled, and the three RLD leaders boarded the flight,” he said.

    The RLD leader added that as he was leaving the Lucknow airport at around 5.15 pm, he saw SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at the waiting room.

    “But, I cannot say whether the three leaders met,” he said.

    When contacted, RLD’s UP chief Masood Ahmad told PTI, “Jayant Chaudhary on Sunday told reporters that RLD’s electoral alliance was with the SP. This was already in place. There is ideological similarity between the SP and RLD. Seat sharing will be done soon, and talks are going on. I think both sides have sat together on this issue. We will contest the polls together.”

    Meanwhile, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in an interview to PTI on Monday said, “Our alliance with the RLD is final, and seat-sharing is to be finalised.”

    The RLD enjoys support among farmers of western Uttar Pradesh and is on the same page with the SP on the issue of opposing the Centre’s three farm laws.

    In the 2017 UP assembly elections, the Congress and Samajwadi Party contested together, with the Congress contesting on 114 seats, while the SP fought on 311 seats.

    On some seats, both the Congress and the SP had fielded candidates.

    As many as 47 SP candidates registered a win, while seven Congress candidates managed to secure victory in the 2017 UP Assembly polls.

    The RLD on the other hand fielded 277 candidates, of which it won only one seat.

  • Akhilesh decides against contesting UP polls, says alliance with RLD finalised

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he will not be contesting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls early next year.

    He also said that an alliance between his party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for the polls has been finalised.

    “Our alliance with RLD is final. Seat sharing is to be finalised,” he told PTI in an interview.

    Yadav, who is also SP MP from Azamgarh and the chief minister face of his party, said he will “not be contesting the assembly polls”.

    On chances of taking uncle Shivpal Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) along in the polls, he said, “I dont have any problem in this. He and his men will be given due honour”.

  • Akhilesh Yadav not to contest Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, announces tie-up with RLD

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said he will not contest the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections himself even as he announced that an alliance between his party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal is now final.

    Yadav also said his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who broke away from the SP to form the Pragatisheel Samajwadi party Lohia (PSPL) will get the due honour from his party.

    “Our alliance with the RLD is final. Seat-sharing is to be finalised,” he told PTI in an interview.

    The RLD enjoys support among farmers of Western Uttar Pradesh and is on the same page with the SP on the issue of opposing the Centre’s three farm laws.

    The SP has already announced an alliance with Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SPSP).

    Yadav, who is an SP MP from Azamgarh and regarded as the CM face of his party, said, “I will not be contesting the assembly election myself”.

    The SP supremo, who was a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) when he served as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012-2017, did not give any reason for the decision.

    However, later Yadav said a final decision on his contesting the polls will be taken by the party.

    On whether he has held any talks with the AIMIM or Mamata Banerjee’s TMC for the state polls, he said there have been no discussions with them.

    Terming his party’s tie up with the SBSP as a natural alliance, Yadav said people in eastern Uttar Pradesh have accepted it and it will ensure the BJP’s defeat.

    On the poll promises made by the SBSP to provide free electricity and RLD of providing over one crore jobs, Yadav said every party has its agenda .

    “We all raise issues of farmers, employment, common man. Everyone is releasing their manifesto. If voted to power, our government will try to accommodate them and prepare a common minimum programme,” he said

    Asked about the joining of Congress leaders and also of a BJP and BSP MLA in his party, he asserted, “The joining will continue. It shows that people are seeing the SP as an alternative to the BJP, which only spread lies and deceit people with promises.”

    He said that people of the state have not forgotten the pain and treatment meted to them during the peak of Covid and added that maximum cases were lodged against his party workers during the pandemic for helping people.

    “SP workers were on the street during Covid peak. We provided all necessary help to people when government was missing from action and left people on their own to survive. Instead of helping, maximum number of cases were lodged against SP workers during the pandemic but it did not deter them,” he said.

    Countering the “tall claims of BJP of helping people”, Yadav said, “Why not a single case was filed against BJP workers during Covid. As our workers were out for help, cases were lodged against them.”

    He was asked about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent remark as to where was the SP supremo during the Covid period.

    Lashing out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Yadav accused him of ruining the state.

    “By saying that it has fulfilled 90 per cent promises of its ‘Sankalp Patra’ (manifesto), the BJP is only lying,” he charged.

    About the government’s move to provide tablets or smart phones to students, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, “What it was doing for the past over four-and-a-half years? This shows their intention.”

    The Samajwadi supremo said people are facing inflation and youth are unemployed.

    People faced hardships during Covid peak and lost their near and dear ones for lack of treatment, non availability of beds, and oxygen and now they will think twice before voting for the BJP, he asserted.

    “The SP is the only party that can face BJP and stand tall before them in the interest of people. Farmers are also with the SP. This time there will be a change in the state and people of the state have made up their minds,” he said.

  • UP election: RLD promises 50 per cent quota for women in government jobs, scrapping farm laws

    By Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  Maintaining that seat sharing with the Samajwadi Party will be finalised shortly, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary released his party’s 22-point sankalp patra (statement of vows) for the Uttar Pradesh polls.

    One crore jobs, 150% of cost as MSP to potato farmers (same MSP to cane farmers in the first season), a three-fold hike in old age pension and Rs 1 crore for every martyr (army and police personnel) formed the mainstays of the Sankalp Patra, which was released in Lucknow on Sunday.

    The payment to cane farmers, which would be equal to 1.5 times of the production cost in the first season would be made in 14 days.

    Another major sop was 50% reservation for women in government jobs.

    The RLD, which has been dominant in western UP but saw its presence shrunk to just one seat in 2017, also announced a sports policy, jobs to one crore youth, Rs 4 lakh assistance to every family ravaged by the pandemic, doctor in every village and medicines for every family and scholarships for the backward castes students.

    The Sankalp Patra also promised to set up separate HC benches in eastern UP, western UP and Bundelkhand, besides the promise of passing resolution against the three new farm laws.

    “We’re in talks with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and very soon the best seat sharing formula will be sorted out unanimously,” Chaudhary said.