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Farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni to contest Haryana assembly elections from Pehowa
Gurnam Singh Charuni said his party Sanyukt Sangharsh Party will contest on all 90 seats in Haryana
Haryana farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni said he will contest the upcoming assembly polls from Pehowa in Kurukshetra as a candidate from his own front -- Sanyukt Sangharsh Party.
Charuni, who is the chief of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) and a vocal supporter of farmers’ rights, said this on Wednesday on the sidelines of an event in Karnal.
Charuni launched his party in December 2021 during the first farmers’ agitation. The party had tested waters in the Punjab assembly elections as part of Charuni’s “Mission Punjab” but performed badly.
In March this year, he had announced that his political outfit would participate in the Lok Sabha elections but later decided to extend support to INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who contested from the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency.
Speaking to HT, Charuni, who is a native of Charuni Jattan village of Shahbad assembly seat of Kurukshetra district, said he will contest from the Pehowa seat.
Currently, the seat is held by BJP leader and former minister Sandeep Singh.
When asked about a possible alliance with the INLD, Charuni said, “We lent support to him only on Kurukshetra seat as he stood for the farmers during our protest at Singhu border near the National Capital, but not on other seats. We are aware that his party has got an alliance with BSP, but there has been no meeting with us so far. If there is any alliance, we are ready for it, but as of now we are contesting on all 90 seats of the state.” A commission agent-cum-agriculturist, he had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly elections from Ladwa seat of the district as an independent candidate.
His wife, Balwinder Kaur, also unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra constituency on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket.
His primary area of influence is the paddy bowl of Haryana, comprising the northern districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Karnal.
On the issues that he will raise, Charuni said, “Politics has become a bad profession. It is now being run by capitalists for the capitalists. If we are in politics, we are able to make favourable policies for the farmers. The situation is so bad that youngsters are leaving the country in search of jobs, education has been completely commercialised, and people are dying of starvation.”
