Once a political adversary of the BJP, Jayant Chaudhary aligned his Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in March.
This budding alliance became evident when the Centre awarded his grandfather, former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor.
On Sunday, Jayant Chaudhary was sworn in as a Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the third Narendra Modi government, nearly a year after he dismissed rumors of an alliance with the BJP.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chaudhary's RLD partnered with the Samajwadi Party (SP) to contest against the BJP. The RLD secured eight seats and later won another in a bypoll, currently holding nine seats in the Assembly.
With the support of the SP, Chaudhary was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and is credited with increasing the RLD's representation in the Assembly.
However, the SP and RLD fell out in May 2023 in the midst of the civic polls in Uttar Pradesh, as the two partners were contesting against each other in nagar mahapanchayats and nagar panchayats. A month on, the RLD stayed away from a meeting of the opposition INDIA bloc, ostensibly because it said it was a family function.
Cut to 2024, the RLD won two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh where it fought in an alliance with the BJP.
Lead indicators to growing bonhomie between RLD and BJP started surfacing on February 9 when Jayant Chaudhary hailed the Centre's decision to honour Chaudhary Charan Singh with Bharat Ratna.
"Dil Jeet Liya," he posted on 'X'.
Chaudhary Charan Singh, known as a farmers' leader, passed on his political legacy to his grandson, Jayant Chaudhary, particularly after the death of Chaudhary Ajit Singh (Jayant's father).
Jayant Chaudhary served as a member of the 15th Lok Sabha from Mathura between 2009 and 2014.
Born on December 27, 1978, in Dallas, USA, to former Union minister Ajit Singh and Radhika Singh, Jayant was educated at Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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