Former Julana MLA Parminder Singh Dhull quits BJP over farm laws

Former two-time Julana MLA Parminder Singh Dhull quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the recently enacted farm legislations on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference at Jind, Dhull said he had resigned from the primary membership of the saffron party:“ I am quitting the BJP as farmers are my top priority. I am a farmer first then a politician. I had joined the BJP, ahead of assembly elections in 2019, hoping that the party would implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and ensure monthly pension to farmers and labourers. However, far from implementing the recommendations, the Union government has passed three laws that are equivalent to death warrants for farmers,” he said.

Dhull said he had written an open letter to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar saying that he had failed to stand by farmers and was acting like a ‘clerk’ on the directions of the Centre.

“ The CM has no concern for the farmers. I will campaign against the BJP in the Baroda constituency for enacting the laws. This is the time to save our farming community,” he said.

Dhull had entered electoral politics as a Congress candidate in 1991 from Julana but had lost his maiden election. He remained unsuccessful in 1996 and 2005 as well. In 2008, Dhull joined the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and became an MLA in 2009 and 2014. He switched to the BJP in 2019 but was defeated in the assembly elections by Jannayak Janta Party’s (JJP’s) Amarjeet Singh.

Recently, former Radaur MLA and BJP leader Shyam Singh Rana had also quit the party over the farm laws and switched over to the INLD in the presence of party patriarch Om Prakash Chautala and his son Abhay Singh Chautala.