RLD V-P quits party over alliance with BJP

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) national vice-president Shahid Siddiqui resigned from the party on Monday morning, opposing the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The development came a day after RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Meerut on Sunday.

Siddiqui sent his resignation to Chaudhary, saying democracy is at stake in the country.

“When it’s a question of the country I can’t accept it,” he said adding that the NDA is compromising with the country, which the RLD is in alliance with.

“It was a shock to me when Jayant informed me about the RLD’s alliance with the BJP,” Siddiqui said to HT.

Siddiqui said many leaders like him worked hard in the past few years to associate Muslims with the RLD, convincing people that Jayant has a secular mindset but after the alliance with the BJP they are also being ignored in the party in the changed situation.

He said it was his personal decision and it should not be seen as he being against Jayant Choudhary and the RLD.

“He (Jayant) should have been given a seat close to PM in the rally as it was held in honour of the conferring of Bharat Ratna on Chaudhary Charan Singh (posthumously), but his grandson Jayant Chaudhary was given very a short time to speak,” Siddiqui said.

Senior RLD leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Mairajuddin Ahmed said Siddiqui had a big stature in the party and his resignation was a matter of concern.

“It is possible that he was not feeling comfortable, therefore, he resigned,” Mairajuddin Ahmed said.