Farmers Movement Archive

Sampat declines membership of Haryana BJP panel on farm laws

Former Haryana finance minister Sampat Singh on Monday refused to become a member of the BJP state executive committee in support of the three farm laws. In a letter to state BJP president OP Dhankar, Sampat Singh thanked him for nominating him as a member of Haryana BJP’s executive committee but said that he can’t accept any such responsibility when farmers were agitating. Also read: Hong Kong controller, local components: How LeT makes drones to attack IndiaTalking over phone, Sampat Singh said he has been supporting the farmers’ agitation since Day 1 and will not accept any position in the BJP till their grievances are redressed. “I believe in politics without police protection. Nowadays, BJP and JJP leaders hold meetings behind closed doors with police protection. I can’t do such politics. I am in the BJP but I won’t hold any position until farmers’ issues are resolved,” he said. Sampat Singh had quit the Congress and joined the BJP in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah at a rally in Rohtak’s Meham on October 9, 2019, in the run-up to the assembly elections. He had left the Congress after he was denied an assembly seat from Hisar’s Nalwa. The Congress had pitted Kuldeep Bishnoi loyalist Randhir Panihar from Nalwa in 2019 and he had lost to BJP’s Ranbir Gangwa, who is the deputy speaker in the BJP-JJP coalition government. Before joining the Congress in 2009, Sampat Singh was in the Indian National Lok Dal and a loyalist of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Hindustan Times

28-06-2021

Chandigarh