UP Polls: Akhilesh Yadav, RLD chief meet in Lucknow; seat-sharing discussed

Lucknow, Nov 23: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav met Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary in Lucknow on Tuesday to discuss seat-sharing for the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

"Badhte Kadam," Chaudhary tweeted and shared a photograph with the Samajwadi Party chief. Yadav had earlier stated that his party was going to have an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal and only seat-sharing is to be discussed.

Later in a tweet, the Samajwadi leader said, "Shri Jayant Chaudhary ji ke saath badlav ke ore (With Jayant for change)." When asked Rashtriya Lok Dal state president Masood Ahmad said that both the leaders met in the state capital and "there is a discussion on seat sharing".

However, the parties have not finalised the number of seats each party will contest in the 2022 UP elections, Ahmad said.

In the 2019 Loksabha elections, the RLD was part of the gathbandhan alliance comprising of SP and BSP. It had lost all the three contested seats - Mathura, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpath. However, it had come out of the alliance following a humiliating defeat.

The UP will go for assembly polls in 2022. All the parties have started preparations with the surveys indicating that the BJP is likely to form the government again while the SP is predicted to give a tough competition to the saffron party. With inputs from PTI