Days after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s indirect “chavanni ko rupaya bana diya” jibe at former ally and now Union minister Jayant Chaudhary, the Rashtriya Lok Dal chief on Sunday hit back while using a Lucknow convention to signal that his party intends to emerge as a significant player in the 2027 UP assembly polls.
He was firmly opposed to caste politics and wanted to bring weaker sections forward. He added that while several political parties had used Charan Singh’s name and photographs during elections, following his principles was much more difficult. He sought to shift the political discourse towards youth, farmers, traders, entrepreneurs, cottage industries and teachers, rather than caste equations.
Referring to the legacy of his grandfather and former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh, Jayant said, “Chaudhary sahib taught us to respect everyone. “Some people see even disputes through a political lens and talk of making political capital out of them,” he said, adding that issues such as arrogance, corruption, theft and deception should be the focus of political debate rather than caste. Taking a swipe at the SP’s PDA formulation, Jayant said, “This is not PDA, it is ‘Peeda’ (pain) and frustration.”
Jayant also sought to balance the party’s traditional leadership with younger workers.
RLD working president Anupam Mishra claimed that no government could be formed in Uttar Pradesh without the RLD’s support and said the party would expand beyond western UP into central and eastern regions. Senior party leader Anil Dubey said the party had expanded its organisational footprint and was now making inroads into Purvanchal. He said organisations could not function in a vacuum and urged senior workers to respect the feelings of the younger generation. “Stagnant water becomes polluted,” he said, calling upon older workers to give space and support to people with new ideas.
