New Delhi: After Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from Narendra Modi’s cabinet over the introduction of three agricultural bills, pressure from the opposition increased on the BJP ally in the party Haryana Jannayak Janata and its leader Dushyant Singh Chautala to resign as deputy minister.
Congressional spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted calling on Chautala to follow Kaur’s lead and step down. “You are more attached to your chair than the farmers,” he said.
दुष्यंत जी,
हरसिमरत के इस्तीफ़े के नाटक को ही दोहरा कर छोटे सीएम के पद से इस्तीफ़ा दे देते।
पद प्यारा है, किसान प्यारे क्यों नहीं?
कुछ तो राज है, किसान माफ नहीं करेंगे।
जजपा सरकार की पिछलग्गु बन किसान की खेती-रोटी छिनने के जुर्म की भागीदार है।
– Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) September 17, 2020
While the MLAs from Chautala’s own party have opposed his leadership, it is noteworthy that he has not publicly opposed the agricultural ordinances passed in Lok Sabha on Thursday.
JJP members Ram Kumar Gautam and Devender Babli expressed dissatisfaction with Chautala’s leadership, stating that “there was dissatisfaction among the majority of the party’s 10 MLAs,” according to a Indian express report. Under the BJP-JJP alliance, the latter has 10 MLAs in the 90-member assembly.
Earlier today, NDTV reported that Chautala met with Prime Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and then met with top leaders of his party.
Harsimrat Kaur’s move is seen as a strong stance taken by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – the oldest ally of the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance – on the three agricultural ordinances that have now been presented as bills in the Lok Sabha. “We were upset that the bill was introduced without consulting the farmers, and this was not acceptable to me,” Kaur said.
President Ram Nath Kovind accepted Kaur’s resignation on Friday and Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was given an additional position from his ministry.
However, Punjab Prime Minister Amarinder Singh called his resignation “theatrical” and said it was “too late, too little”.
“Harsimrat Kaur’s decision to resign from the Union Cabinet is another in the long chain of theatricals being enacted by the SAD, which has not yet left the ruling coalition. He is motivated not by any concern for farmers, but rather to save his own dwindling political fortunes. Too little, too late, ”Singh tweeted.
Harsimrat Kaur’s decision to leave the Union Cabinet is another in a long string of theatricals he is running. @Akali_Dal_ that he has not yet left the ruling coalition. He is motivated not by any concern for farmers, but rather to save his own dwindling political fortunes. Too little and too late.
– Captain Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) September 17, 2020
He added that if SAD had taken a position earlier against the ordinances and supported it, the Center could have thought “ten times” before introducing the ordinances and promoting “anti-farmer laws” in parliament. He said the party changed its stance on the ordinances after pressure from the state’s farmers’ organizations, which have been protesting for months against the anti-farmer ordinances issued by the central government.
Before the ordinances came to the Lok Sabha table, Haryana farmers had vehemently opposed the changes, claiming that, in the name of reforms, the government plans to discontinue the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime. Earlier this week, SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal met with Chautala and his father Ajay Singh Chautala in Delhi to plan a strategy at the Bills farm.
Both JJP and SAD have their main base of support among farmers and also share close family ties.
The JJP has been supporting the central ordinances and also criticized Congress for “politicizing” the issue by “misleading” farmers.
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