Assembly elections 2022: Punjab farm leaders put candidate list on hold, open alliance talks

Both outfits — Gurnam Singh Chaduni’s Samyukt Sangharsh Party (SSP) and Balbir Singh Rajewal’s Samyukta Samaj Morcha (SSM) — had earlier announced that they will separately contest all 117 seats of Punjab Assembly.

According to Chaduni, candidate announcement was halted at the last minute.

Chaduni told The Indian Express: “Both parties had plans to announce their candidates for the Punjab polls Sunday. But in a meeting held in Chandigarh, we reached a consensus to put the list of candidates on hold for the time being. We will see whether any progress takes place for a possible alliance in the coming days. As of now, we can’t say how things will take shape in the future.”

Chaduni has been stating all along that he will try to bring all farm outfits on one platform for the upcoming polls.

He said: “It would be good if we contest the elections together. I have been insisting on this since the beginning, but I did not get the desired response (from other factions) earlier. It’s not good if both factions contest the elections separately.”

Meanwhile, Rajewal on Sunday ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party for next month’s Assembly polls.

During the recent farmer agitation, Chaduni had emerged as a firebrand leader of farmers, while Rajewal was seen as a good orator. It is believed that if both factions join hands, then they may pull impressive crowds in the poll rallies too.

The decision of farmer leaders to jump in the poll fray is seen as significant because the election is taking place in the backdrop of the farmers’ agitation that made the central government withdraw the contentious farm laws.

It is further believed that if both factions join hands, then it may emerge as a formidable force in Punjab with the farmer outfits having units at village level apart from an army of volunteers and dedicated supporters.

Political experts say the united fight by farmer outfits may dent the vote bank of mainstream political parties in Punjab especially when the state is heading for a multi-cornered contest where even a small swing in vote share can make a huge difference.

As many as 22 Punjab farmer organisations had floated their own political front, Samyukta Samaj Morcha two weeks back, and declared Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal (78) as the face of their front.

Nearly a week before it, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) president Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who has been suggesting that farmer and majdoor leaders join politics, had launched his political outfit, Samyukt Sangharsh Party. Then, Chaduni had stated: “Those who indulged in wrong practices have entered into the politics and need to be thrown out.”