New Delhi:

Lok Sabha chief Jayant Chaudhary mocks former ally Akhilesh Yadav amid speculation that his BJP will replace its candidate for Uttar Pradesh for the second time Meerut Lok Sabha seat. In a brief post on X (formerly Twitter), the RLD boss “congratulated” “the lucky ones in the opposition who will get a few hours’ chance” to run in the 2024 election.

“And those who did not buy tickets, their fate is…” he wrote.

Mr Chaudhry’s attack came hours after the SP was likely to replace its second-choice Meerut candidate Atul Pradhan with third-choice Sunita Verma. The party last week nominated Bhanu Pratap Singh for the election but abandoned the decision after local leaders expressed unease at the choice of an “outsider”.

Sources said Akhilesh Yadav was personally involved in the first course correction, met with local leaders to understand their concerns and launched the second operation.

The party’s second choice – Mr Pradhan – is the MLA from UP’s Sadhana parliamentary unit. The third choice is Mrs Verma, the former mayor and wife of two-term councilor Yogesh Verma; the pair were expelled from Mayawati-led Samajwadi Party in 2019 and joined two years later Socialist Party.

The second exchange – fielding Mrs Verma – was because she was a Dalit candidate and Meerut is home to around four lakh Dalits. Mr. Pradhan hails from the Gujjar community, which has a population of less than one lakh.

The Meerut seat has been a BJP stronghold for the past 15 years; Rajendra Agarwal has been holding this seat for the saffron party since 2009. However, Mr Agarwal did not win for the fourth consecutive time as the BJP fielded Arun Govil, who plays Lord Ram in the hit TV series “Ramayana”.

Mr Govil is part of the BJP’s orchestrated push into western Uttar Pradesh, where the party struggled in 2019.

Read | Jayant Chaudhary’s RLD formally joins BJP-led NDA alliance

In this case, getting Mr Chaudhry on board was crucial as the RLD had influence among Jats and farmers in the area. The RLD and the BJP reached an agreement in February, a month after Mr Chaudhry and Akhilesh Yadav struck a deal. The shift comes after the BJP conferred posthumous Bharat Ratna on former prime minister Charan Singh, Mr Chaudhry’s grandfather.

Read | ‘Dil Jeet Liya’: RLD leader as Prime Minister, awards Bharat Ratna to Charan Singh

In the 2019 elections, the BJP won only 19 of the 27 Lok Sabha seats in western Uttar Pradesh, down from 24 in 2014. The BJP has set itself a target of winning over 370 seats in this election.

To achieve this, the BJP needs to maximize returns in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha and has been an unshakable bastion for the party in recent elections.

Two of the 80 seats will be contested by the RLD; Bijnor and Baghpat have been allotted to the party and Chandan Chauhan and Rajkumar Sangwan have been named as party candidates. The latter is crucial as it is considered a stronghold of Mr Chaudhry’s family. It elected his father Ajit Singh seven times.

Read | RLD nominates candidates for 2 Lok Sabha seats in agreement with BJP

The state will vote in all seven phases of the 2024 elections starting from April 19. Meerut will go to polls in the second phase on April 26. All results will be announced on June 4th.

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