AAP may join hands with BKU for Haryana polls

To brighten it prospects in the 2014 assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may join hands with the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU).

BKU state president Gurnam Singh Chaduni said that a core group of the unit would soon meet AAP's national convener Arvind Kejriwal to discuss the possibility of a political tie-up.

“BKU has always supported Kejriwal's political ideology of corruption-free polity, inclusive development with special focus on the rural and farming community. We strongly feel if AAP and BKU come together, the outcome would be as different as in Delhi,” said Chaduni.

He clarified that the BKU had already planned to field its candidate from Kurukshetra parliamentary segment and it was ready to support or contest with the AAP in other parliamentary and assembly segments.

In February this year, Kejriwal had chaired an impressive BKU's rally at Pipli in Kurukshetra where he had a taken a dig at the Haryana politicians, including Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal, for his alleged role in the coal block allotment scandal.

Kejriwal haring dais with the BKU leaders was widely appreciated by the farmers'. Kejriwal had shown full sympathy with the farming community and supported the issues raised by the BKU, such as malnourishment among the poor families and non-implementation of Swaminathan report on agriculture reforms.

Meanwhile, showing optimism over the truck with BKU, AAP's state convener Ashawant Gupta said that the party leadership would soon meet BKU leaders on the issue.

“In Delhi elections, AAP did not get enough support in the outer areas comprising rural belts. In Haryana too, we feel the same challenge and our association with BKU can help,” said Gupta.

Political analyst Prof Ranbir Singh too feels that AAP's association with the BKU would have a visible impact on the election results.

He said that though AAP is at the infancy in Haryana, but still it has the capacity to influence political arithmetic even if it plans to contest on its own.

“After hard work of two years, AAP emerged as a household name in Delhi. In Haryana they have yet to penetrate in towns and villages,” said the analyst.

“Haryana has a multiplicity of electrical trends where people cast votes on issues like local-Punjabi speaking candidates, Jat or non-Jat, caste and even religious factors. AAP may influence the urban areas but it would have to work hard to attract the rural voters who are strong vote banks of the Congress, the INLD and the BJP-HJC alliance,” he said.