Shah kicks off LS poll campaign from Sirsa today; farmers announce protest

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, June 17

With Union Home Minister Amit Shah set to kick off the campaign for next year’s Lok Sabha elections with a rally in Sirsa on Sunday, farmers’ bodies and political activists have threatened to stage a protest. They have also urged sarpanches to burn effigies of BJP politicians in their respective villages.

Besides the Central party leaders and state ministers, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and state BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar will also attend Shah’s rally.

Local MLA from Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) Gopal Kanda was also extended the invitation. Kanda, HLP’s sole MLA, is supporting the BJP and his brother, Gobind Kanda, is a party member. Gopal was one of the first MLAs after the 2019 Assembly polls to announce his support to the party. Later, the BJP struck a post-poll alliance with the JJP and its leader Dushyant Chautala in the coalition government.

However, party sources said Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala is unlikely to attend the rally as he is scheduled to participate in 23 events in Gurugram tomorrow.

Aditya Chautala, Sirsa district BJP president, confirmed that Kanda has been invited for the rally. Energy Minister Ranjit Singh, who is an Independent MLA supporting the government, is also expected to be present.

When asked about the JJP leaders, Aditya Chautala said he was unaware if invitations had been sent to them. Kanda and some Independent MLAs supporting the government had recently met the BJP’s Central leaders in Delhi amid speculations that the BJP and JJP might part ways ahead of the next Assembly elections.

Though the CM and Deputy CM had tried to put all speculations of a rift between the BJP and JJP alliance to rest, party sources said Amit Shah may throw some light on the BJP’s strategy about alliance politics.

To ensure nothing goes wrong at tomorrow’s much-awaited rally, a five-tier security will be in place at the venue in view of the protests announced by the farmers and political activists.

The police, having identified 130 activists who could have caused trouble tomorrow, are keeping them under strict watch. These people have been issued notices by their respective police stations asking them to execute bonds that they would maintain peace during the rally.