Have you seen the Bollywood movie ‘Rajneeti’? How did you find Ajay Devgan’s character in the movie? Well, he was indeed a right person stuck on the wrong side and so is, Jayant Chaudhary – the RLD leader. Despite being a great politician and leader, he is not being given the respect and credit he deserved as he is not only stuck in the wrong party but also the wrong alliance.
Jayant paying for being in the wrong alliance
A few days after the election results in which SP faced poll defeat, its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal party’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Masood Ahmed resigned. RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary received a setback from his former party chief. In his resignation letter addressed to Chaudhary, Ahmed claimed that leaders of the Samajwadi Party-RLD sold tickets and behaved in a dictatorial manner.
“Akhilesh-Ji gave tickets to whomever he wanted while collecting money, due to which the alliance was forced to contest elections without booth presidents,” he wrote.
He further accused Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhary of “dictatorship” and stated that they were responsible for the alliance’s defeat in the UP polls. Referring to Swami Prasad Maurya’s case, a prominent BJP leader who had quit the party to join SP just before the polls, he also wrote, “Maurya-Ji was sent to Fazilnagar without information and he lost the election. Akhilesh-Ji and you acted like dictators because of which the alliance had to face defeat. My suggestion is that this alliance should be deferred until Akhilesh-Ji gives equal respect.”
This is what happens when you ally with a party like Samajwadi Party which is criticised by many for bad leadership.
However, Jayant Chaudhary, while interacting with The Indian Express, stated that the candidates fielded by his party in 33 seats could not campaign due to a delayed alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
He asserted, “Out of 33 seats we fought if we had issues in one or two seats, that is nothing. We faced problems because the seats we were contesting were going to the polls in the first phase. So, immediately we had to bring everything together. Our alliance talks were still going on. So, there are a few seats where if we had declared our candidates a little earlier, the candidates would have got more time to campaign and communicate our message to the people. That is one failing we can address while going forward.”
A right man in the wrong party and wrong alliance
According to Election Commission data, Jayant’s party won 8 seats in western UP, where his party fielded 33 candidates, garnering nearly 3 per cent vote share. In the process, it also emerged as the fourth largest party in the state ahead of Congress and BSP.
Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance collectively won 119 seats. Even though the alliance lost, those looking at the intricate political narratives have praised RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary for his party’s performance.
Read more: Jayant Chaudhary: Right man in the wrong party
Witnessing the records, RLD’s performance under Jayant is better than that of his father and founder of RLD, Ajit Singh. Political experts are of the view it is only Jayant who ensured that the party survives. Unlike his alliance partner in SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jayant is a bit more grounded and affable.
Such is the working style and leadership of RLD leader that even Union Home Minister Amit Shah had iterated during a meeting that doors were open for Jayant as the ideology of both parties and the community was the same and both keep national interest first and have been fighting against “invaders.”
You see, Jayant Chaudhary stands out amongst his peers and Samajwadi Party seemingly is not the right ally for him. It is high time Jayant Chaudhary should step in with some wise steps if he aims at bigger political opportunities and power as well.
