Whatever the fate of the Indo-US nuclear deal, the deal struck by the Rashtriya Lok Dal with the Bahujan Samaj Party on Sunday will prove to be a win-win situation for Ajit Singh.

After the talks between Ajit Singh and Mayawati, the BSP has apparently agreed to induct a Cabinet minister and two Ministers of State from the RLD in its Government. The BSP has also agreed to concede eight Lok Sabha seats to the RLD in the next General elections.

Significantly, the tie-up with BSP will help Ajit Singh send his son Jayant Singh to Parliament from the Mathura LS seat. The Congress had refused to give him the seat after its sitting MP Manvendra Singh threatened of a revolt. The RLD now has 12 MLAs in the UP Assembly and three MPs.

However, RLD state president Ram Asrey Verma refused to confirm the understanding with the BSP. “RLD has decided to join the UNPA and our three MPs will vote against the trust vote to be moved by the UPA Government on July 22,” he said. “As far as the BSP deal is concerned I would be able to comment on it only after talking to my leader Ajit Singh,” he added.

The party also denied that its leader has ditched the UPA Government even after it agreed to name the Amausi airport after Chowdhary Charan Singh, in lieu of support in the trust vote. “It was a proposal sent by the UP Government in 2003 to name the airport after Chowdhary Saheb, the Union Government has just implemented it now,” said Verma.

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