RLP to contest on all 25 seats with allies

Talks are on with other parties such as BJP, CPI, BTP and other parties who are against Congress and BJP HANUMAN BENIWAL, RLP convener

JAIPUR: The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) is set to contest on all the 25 parliamentary seats in alliance with other parties in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Talks are on with other parties such as Bahujan Samaj Party, Community Party of India, Bharat Tribal Party and other parties who are against Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party; are welcome to talk to us for alliance,” announced Hanuman Beniwal, the RLP convener and MLA from Khinvsar, at a press conference in Jaipur on Saturday. Which party will contest from which seat will be clear in two-three days after the meeting, he added.

Talking about the party manifesto, Beniwal said, “Our issues will be complete loan waiver of farmers, employment to unempl oyed and ot her burning issues.” RLP came into existence in 2013 before the assembly elections in Rajasthan. The party had fielded candidates on 57 of the 200 assembly constituencies and won on three seats —Khinvsar, Merta and Bhoplagarh. “Our aim was not to come to power, but to play politics on issues. The party raised voice for farmers demanding loan waiver, unemployment, implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report etc,” said Beniwal, clarifying the objective behind the party formation.

He said then BJP government waived loan up to Rs 50,000 of farmers, while Congress after coming to power in the state waived loan up to Rs 2 lakh of defaulter farmers, which did not benefit much to the farmers and Congress also announced to give unemployment allowance. “It was our party that forced other parties to think on these lines and in the Lok Sabha polls opportunity will be given to youth to contest elections and will force t he c e nt r e t o l i s t e n t o our demands that benefit the people,” he added. HTC