Charan SinghArchives

Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD) does resoundingly well in Uttar Pradesh, at the expense of the Jana Sangh, Socialists and Congress. These remain his political opponents and allies over the course of the next 16 years

1969

In the UP mid-term Assembly election, held in February 1969 after a year’s time of President’s Rule, Charan Singh’s BKD increases its strength significantly from 17 members of the break-away Jan Congress to 98. These seats were won partially at the expense of his previous SVD coalition partners especially the Jan Sangh, which was reduced by half from 98 seats to 49, but also for the SSP, whose wins came down from 44 to 33 1 which explains the continued tensions with the Jana Sangh into the future specially during the Janata Party regime. All this was done without organized funding or an organization structure in the BKD worth the name, and these characteristics were a part of all of Charan Singh’s subsequent political parties. He would not seek funds from wealthy merchants or industrialists, and depended instead only on collections in public meetings.

Jana Sangh realizes his existentialist threat to their political base, and they remain at various times in close combat and in cooperation till 1985.