Kalyan Singh meets Rajnath, seat adjustment for UP soon

New Delhi, Mar 12 (UNI) A day after the conclusion of alliance with the Apna Dal and JD(U) for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party's head of state election campaign committee and former chief minister Kalyan Singh today held a meeting with party Chief Rajnath Singh along with state BJP Chief Kesarinath Tripathi.

Mr Singh, who is being projected as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate in the state, discussed seat adjustments and other issues with the party President and other senior leaders, party sources told UNI.

The announcement regarding the distribution of seats with the allies will be made shortly, and the party manifesto was also being given final touches, they said.

While the JD(U) is already a constituent in the National Democratic Alliance, it is for the first time that the BJP has allied with the Apna Dal, a party dominated by backward 'kurmis' and having major presence in certain pockets in eastern UP. The JD(U), also a backward caste based party, will be contesting in areas of its strength in the state.

Earlier, leaders of the Apna Dal and JD(U) Sone Lal Patel and Sharad Yadav, respectively had a meeting with the senior BJP leaders including Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi here.

Mr Patel has also met Mr Rajnath.

Mr Kalyan Singh, who represents 'lodhs' a backward caste, had fought the last Assembly elections forming his own party after his expulsion from the BJP.

He is now back in the BJP. The parent party had restored his seniority by making him its national vice president.

Party leadership thinks that alliance with the two powerful backward castes along with the added strength of Mr Singh will boost its prospects in the state elections.

UNI