An industrialists' body in Ludhiana launched a new political party and named Bharatiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) chief, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, as it's chief ministerial face for the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections.
The new party — Bharatiya Aarthik Party — claims to represent farmers, traders and labourers. Representatives of various trade organisations met under the chairmanship of Mr. Chaduni, a farmer leader from Haryana, on Monday and launched the party.
Tarun Bawa, who heads a traders' association, was declared the founder national president of the newly formed outfit.
Last month, Mr. Chaduni had batted for 'Mission Punjab' and said that the outfits from Punjab involved in the agitation against the Central agriculture laws should contest the Punjab Assembly elections as it will "present a model on how the system can be changed". Addressing the gathering in Ludhiana, Mr. Chaduni said that the new party would work for the success of his “Mission Punjab – 2022”. He said, "We have decided to contest all the 117 seats in Punjab in the 2022 Assembly elections ." He claimed that farmers, traders and labourers had faced a constant neglect, both at the hands of the Congress and the BJP. Mr. Chaduni expressed hope that the new party would work for the benefit of these neglected sections of the society .
Earlier, Mr. Chaduni had decided to stay away from all meetings of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday after accusing some leaders of the joint front, spearheading the stir against the farm laws, of discriminating against him and his supporters.
He had alleged that some of his supporters were pushed out of an SKM meeting and mistreated.
Mr. Chaduni, however, said that he will abide by the SKM's decisions as he does not want the ongoing farmers' agitation to be weakened in any way.
The SKM had last month suspended Mr. Chaduni, a key member of the outfit, for seven days for suggesting that the Punjab farmer outfits involved in the stir against the farm laws should contest the Assembly polls next year.
