Jat leader Ajit Singh has risen to the occasion. He has literally revived his late father, former Prime Minister Charan Singh's legacy of keeping the banner aloft in the prosperous Jat belt of western UP. His Lok Dal is fielding eight candidates for the Parliamentary seats having reached an electoral understanding with the Congress.

Computer engineer-turned-politician Ajit Singh has his job cut out for him. He has to prove that his father's constituency is still intact with him. No doubt, he commands respect among his clan. But that must translate into votes. He has to remain in politics, after all.

Many think he has put his political career in jeopardy by aligning with the Congress party. After all, the Congress could not even open an account in the 1998 Parliamentary elections. But Ajit Singh had little choice.

What is it that Jat voters admire him for, apart from being his father's son? Ajit Singh gave up a lucrative engineering career in the US to joinhis father in politics. Charan Singh groomed him as his successor. But circumstances did not help him much. Lok Dal had to strive hard to keep its identity during the past decade. Mergers and demergers of the non-BJP, non-Congress centrist parties took their own toll.

Ajit Singh, like others, had to bear the brunt of it all. Today his Lok Dal stands on the cross road. He has to find his moorings sooner than later. How much help the Congress can render is a million dollar question in anybody's mind.