In its first national executive meeting after the Uttar Pradesh elections, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on Tuesday resolved to bolster its presence among the Scheduled Castes and women, two segments that have seemingly hurt the prospects of the party in the just concluded polls.
The party managed to win only eight out of the 33 seats it contested in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP). Party president Chaudhary Jayant Singh has formed a three-member team to look into the reasons for the RLD’s unimpressive performance despite widespread anger among farmers.
Countering the charge that Jat farmers didn’t vote in large numbers for the party, a senior party source said the party has increased its vote percentage and that would not have been possible without the support of Jat farmers. “In the potato belt, poor candidate selection hurt our prospects. In the sugarcane region, we did well and lost at least four seats by a very thin margin,” the source said. He pointed out that the SP won many seats in the region because the RLD’s Jat voter stood in the alliance partner’s support. “The lesson from the polls is that it’s time to not only consolidate Jat-Muslim unity but add farmers from different caste groups into the fold,” he said.
The party also resolved to increase its footprint in neighbouring States, starting with Rajasthan which is scheduled to go to the polls in 2023. Currently, the RLD supports the Congress government in Rajasthan with one MLA in the Assembly. Mr Jayant Singh met Olympic medallist Vijendra Singh, who has been supporting the Congress in Haryana, on Monday.
Mr. Jayant Singh said the RLD would work to increase the representation of youth, women and the Schedule Castes in the party. On Monday, he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to consider increasing the age limit in government jobs by two years because of the time lost due to the pandemic.
He flayed the government’s economic policy for not being able to control inflation in the cost of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. He further said the party stood by the farmers’ demand for a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP).
