Govindacharya, BJP leader to share stage at farmers' rally

A farmers' rally in the Capital on Wednesday and Thursday is set to bring the BJP and its estranged former leader KN Govindacharya together on one stage after a long time.

A farmers' rally in the Capital on Wednesday and Thursday is set to bring the BJP and its estranged former leader KN Govindacharya together on one stage after a long time.

HT Image

The rally — which will not be under any single banner — has the blessings of the RSS-associated Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

BJP national secretary Murlidhar Rao — who is at present associated with BJP president Nitin Gadkari for coordination — will be sharing the stage with Govindacharya, which may again spark off a round of speculation whether the latter is going to return to his former party.

When he had taken over as president, Gadkari had said he wanted to bring former leaders like Jaswant Singh, Uma Bharti and Govindacharya back into the party's fold.

He eventually did bring Bharti and Singh back, but Govindacharya repeatedly said he did not want to return.

Murlidhar Rao however said that the event was aimed at securing the interests of marginal farmers and was not personality-centric.

"India is and is going to remain in the coming 25 years a country of marginal farmers. Science and technology innovations should flow for them," Rao told HT.

"High agricultural growth is possible and this will lead to dispersed prosperity rather than concentrated prosperity."

While confirming that Govindacharya would be there, Rao played it down.