With the Bharat Ratna having been officially and posthumously bestowed on former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, his grandson, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Chaudhary Jayant Singh, will share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time after he joined the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Meerut on March 31.
Having secured two Lok Sabha tickets, one Cabinet berth in Uttar Pradesh, and a member in the State Legislative Assembly, political observers feel that Mr. Singh has got a good bargain from the BJP, and is now following a calibrated approach to keep his own core constituency intact.
At the Amroha rally for the BJP candidate Kanwar Singh Tanwar earlier this week, Mr. Singh was the star speaker. Before he took the microphone, a local BJP leader was screaming, “Jai Shri Ram”. Mr. Singh calmly opened his address with “Ram Ram Ji”.