In 2019, when SP, BSP and RLD allied, both the Chaudhary father-son duo lost the seats they contested in their stronghold. At present, when sugarcane crop is being harvested and taken to sugar mills, one can hardly expect farmers to spare time for a rally but they are still coming, RLD leader Birpal Malik said.īut the alliance with the Samajwadi Party is still to be sealed as the RLD now wants more seats of its choice while the SP also wants to make a bigger foray into west UP, an area where the BSP was traditionally strong before the BJP started sweeping it in 2014.ĪLSO READ | BJP Cites Recent Electoral Wins to Deny ‘Political Motive’ Behind Farm Laws Rollback RLD leaders point to the big crowd at Chaudhary’s rallies to claim the mood has changed in west UP. The BJP leaders say their election campaign will settle all doubts, beginning with Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s trip to west UP this month to address the party’s booth presidents. Some do say that the electricity supply has improved, and so has law and order, but the high bills bother most. They claim the tube-well bills were less than Rs 500 per month in the earlier regime, but have risen to over Rs 2,000 a month now. News18 spoke to multiple farmers in west UP who had one constant complaint - the high power bills. Will the BJP give it?” ask Suresh Singh and Veerpal Singh, smoking away the hookah in Titavi, where Chaudhary held a rally on Saturday.
Farmers in UP hardly get it on rice and wheat.
But what farmers really wanted in west UP was guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP). So we are happy that they (farm laws) are gone. The contract farming law would have given more leeway to private sugarcane mill owners who are right now bound to purchase our crop entirely at a state-fixed price.
PM Narendra Modi and the BJP, whom the farmers in west UP have backed fully in elections since 2014, just two days ago scrapped the three farm laws that were also bothering the farmers here. ALSO READ | Poll Pulse: Farm Laws Became An Issue of Sikh Identity in Punjab, Discomfort Had Spread to West UP