To give a renewed enthusiasm to otherwise dispirited party cadre in Punjab amidst the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s agrarian laws, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday appointed the Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as the state’s election in-charge, with two other Union Ministers to support him.
Along with Shekhawat, the saffron party has also appointed Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi, and party MP from Kachchh (Gujarat) Vinod Chavda as Punjab’s co in-charges as the party braces to contest all 117 assembly seats amidst farmers’ backlash.
Earlier, the BJP used to contest the assembly polls on just 23 seats in alliance with the Akali Dal.
For Union Jal Shakti Minister Shekhawat, making the saffron party to win Punjab or give a strong performance will be a herculean challenge as its decades old partner, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has parted ways with the BJP over the three farm laws, and it would be for the first time in the recallable past that the party would be contesting the polls alone.
What is more! Punjab’s farmers, who constitute a major vote share in the primarily agrarian state, are up in arms against the saffron party for its apathetic and obstinate attitude to repeal the contentious farm laws.
Notably, Punjab’s farmers, along with those from other states, have been protesting against the agri laws for over a year now. In fact, their protest dharna at Delhi borders is continued for more than nine months now.
The party leaders have been facing massive protests in Punjab from the farmers since the passage of the contentious laws in September last. Since then, its several senior leaders have also rebelled against the party’s stand against the farmers’ globally acknowledged agitation with many even parting ways with the BJP.
Its senior leader and former Minister Anil Joshi joined the Akali Dal the previous month, besides many others.
BJP, which could secure just three seats in the 2017 assembly polls, finished close to a wipeout in the Punjab civic body polls, held the previous year. The saffron party faced defeats even in its bastions of Pathankot — the home turf of state unit chief Ashwani Sharma; and Hoshiarpur — the home constituency of Union Minister Som Parkash. In Pathankot, BJP could win only 11 of 50 seats, while in Hoshiarpur, the saffron party won just three of 50 seats.
However, a senior BJP leader maintained that despite party’s defeat, its core voter base is still intact in areas known as our stronghold.
“Centre has taken several initiatives to improve the condition of the farmers across the country, including Punjab. These farm bills are also in their favour. But even then, the Centre has agreed to make amendments in the laws and even suspend the same for couple of years considering the opposition by the farmers. This issue needs to be resolved…It should not be stretched for long now,” said a BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.
BJP leaders have all along been blaming the rival parties, especially the ruling Congress, of “misguiding” the farmers and creating a strong anti-BJP wave in the State.