Samyukta Samaj Morcha leader Balbir Singh Rajewal on Sunday ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party for next month’s Punjab Assembly polls and said they would announce their candidates within a week. Various farmers’ organizations in Punjab, which took part in the movement against the Centre’s now withdrawn agriculture law, launched their political front last month and announced they would contest the assembly elections.
Samyukta Samaj Morcha (SSM) leaders on Sunday held talks with farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who had started the Samyukta Sangharsh Party to contest the elections. Addressing the media, the SSM said that the Morcha will not have any agreement with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He termed as “baseless” the suggestions that his political front wanted 60 seats while the AAP had offered only 10.
Asked if he would tie up with any other party, Rajewal said, “We will see when the time comes.” The leader said that the Samyukta Samaj Morcha has constituted three committees, an inquiry committee for shortlisting of candidates, a parliamentary board and a manifesto committee. “We will release our first list of candidates in two-three days and all candidates will be announced within a week,” Rajewal said. When asked whether only farmers would be the candidates, Rajewal said the candidates would be from every section of the society including the scheduled caste community and traders.
Chaduni, who heads Haryana BKU (Chaduni), held a meeting with SSM leaders and said that he has decided not to announce his party’s candidates. Referring to his interaction with the SSM, Chaduni told reporters here that his organization has withheld the announcement of 10 candidates, whom it wanted to field.
Asked if there was any discussion on seat-sharing with him, he said, “As things progress, we will let you know.” Asked if he can merge his organization with SSM, Chaduni said it was too early to comment on it. Asked about the meeting with Chaduni, Rajewal said that the SSM has constituted a committee, which will look into their needs and take a decision accordingly.
“How many tickets they want, how many we can give, this committee will decide,” Rajewal said. On the question of lapse in the security of the Prime Minister in Ferozepur, Rajewal said that farmers are not involved in this and demanded that security agencies should investigate in this regard.
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