LUCKNOW, Aug. 30 -- Days after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's indirect "chavanni ko rupaya bana diya" jibe at former ally and now Union minister Jayant Chaudhary, the Rashtriya Lok Dal chief on Sunday hit back while using a Lucknow convention to signal that his party intends to emerge as a significant player in the 2027 UP assembly polls.

Addressing an RLD function at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, Chaudhary took repeated digs at the SP leadership without naming Akhilesh, asserting that politics should be about taking all sections along rather than pursuing caste-based mobilisation.

Referring to the legacy of his grandfather and former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh, Jayant said, "Chaudhary sahib taught us to respect everyone. He was...