Farmers Movement Archive

Turf war between SAD, Cong in Dakha for farmers’ support

Amid farmers’ protests against the agri bills passed in Parliament, Dakha constituency, which comprises over 90% of the rural population of the district, has turned into a political battleground for Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress ahead of the 2022 legislative elections.Leaders of both parties are leaving no stone unturned to woo the farmers. On Wednesday, SAD MLA Manpreet Ayali and Captain Sandeep Sandhu, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s political secretary, who is also the Congress in-charge of Dakha, organised separate tractor protest rallies at the constituency. Both leaders have also been taking digs at each other on social media platforms. The by-elections for Dakha constituency, which has a population of around 2.5 lakh and comprises over 110 villages, was contested last year between Ayali and Captain Sandhu, in which the latter lost out by 14,672 votes.”I am also a farmer and I have always stood by their side. It is Congress which is trying to get political benefit out of the crisis. We had announced Wednesday’s protest on Monday. It was then that Congress also organised a protest on the same day. Farmers are my priority and party is secondary. Congress leaders think they will win the 2022 elections with these unethical practices during this time of crisis, but the public will show them their true value by voting for SAD,” Ayali said. Sandhu, however, refuted the allegations levelled by the SAD leader and slammed the party over its double standards in terms of farm bills. ”SAD should make it clear who are they protesting against. If the protests are against BJP, then they are going against their allies at the Union level. If they are supporting BJP, they cannot stand by the farmers. Congress is clearly against the farm bills. We have been staging protests in support of the farmers for the last few days. There is no political motive behind this and SAD can’t handle that farmers are standing with Congress,” Sandhu said.

Hindustan Times

24-09-2020

Chandigarh