Victory marks paradigm moment in RLD’s history

Lucknow: From a party having 5 Lok Sabha MPs in 2009, a Union minister on two occasions (2001 and 2011) to having its strength in Parliament getting reduced to zero in 2014 and 2019 – and now back to two MPs in 2024 – the journey of Jayant Chaudhary led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has come almost a full circle.
Not surprisingly, the of both RLD candidates – Rajkumar Sangwan (Baghpat) and Chandan Chauhan (Bijnor) – marked a paradigm moment in the history of the party that saw its electoral fortunes swing by almost 180 degrees: thanks to its alliance with the BJP.
“The win has once again established the party as a key political player in west UP and beyond,” said RLD national secretary Anupam Mishra.
RLD had come to face an existential crisis in 2014, a year after Muzaffarnagar riots saw Jats entering into acrimonious terms with Muslims. Sources said RLD's alliance with BJP helped it resurrect at the national level while bolstering its footprints amongst the Jat and Gurjar, the electorally significant bloc in the west UP region.
It all started in Feb when PM Narendra Modi announced Bharat Ratna for Jayant’s grandfather and former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh. The move was powerful enough to pull Jayant out of his alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party.