By IANS,
Lucknow : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh are all set for a pre-poll alliance to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, RLD leaders said Friday.
“Even as negotiations on sharing some seats are still on, RLD chief Ajit Singh, after having talks with the BJP national president Rajnath Singh, has asked me to gear up for contesting the elections from the Sitapur Lok Sabha seat,” RLD state president Ram Asrey told IANS.
Sources say BJP has already agreed to allot RLD the Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Mathura, Amroha, Hathras, Nagina and Sitapur Lok Sabha seats.
“Talks for sharing of three more Lok Sabha seats – Sambhal, Saharanpur and Bijnore – are still on with BJP,” said an RLD leader.
“The seat sharing exercise is in its last stages. An official statement in this regard will be made after the national BJP executive meet in Nagpur,” RLD spokesperson Anil Dubey told IANS.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the RLD had contested ten Lok Sabha seats, all in western Uttar Pradesh – considered to be the stronghold of Ajit Singh’s party – in alliance with Samajwadi Party. The party had emerged victorious on three seats.