BJP leader Balwan Singh Daulatpuria quits party over farm laws

Daulatpuria, who had joined the party ahead of 2019 Assembly polls after switching over from INLD, said, “The central government should repeal the farm laws keeping in view the sentiments of farmers”.

Balwan Singh Daulatpuria, a former legislator from Fatehabad, Sunday resigned from the BJP after a local panchayat asked him to walk out of the ruling party in solidarity with farmers protesting against the three new agri laws.

“A Panchayat was held in my village (Daulatpur). They summoned me and unitedly asked me to leave the BJP and come out fully in support of the farmers. I accepted their decision. I will fight shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers and also visit the Tikri border protest site,” Daulatpuria said.

Daulatpuria, who had joined the party ahead of 2019 Assembly polls after switching over from INLD, said, “The central government should repeal the farm laws keeping in view the sentiments of farmers”.

The former MLA had hit the headlines last year after he urged Maruti Suzuki India Ltd to set up its plant in his area after India’s largest car maker said it wants to shift its Gurgaon plant because of space constraints. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Maruti Suzuki India chairman R C Bhargava, Daulatpuria had said more than 1,000 acres of land is available between Fatehabad and Agroha where “land and labour are cheap” and “crime rate is also very low”.

Earlier on Thursday, Haryana BJP leader and former chief parliamentary secretary Rampal Majra had quit the party over the farm laws issue.

Majra, a three-time former MLA, had switched over to the BJP from the INLD just before the 2019 assembly elections. He had in September last year dubbed then Centre’s farm bills as “anti-farmer”, claiming that the apprehensions about the minimum support price (MSP) were not unfounded.

In September last year, Haryana BJP leader Shyam Singh Rana had also quit the party over the agriculture laws. Rana, who was chief parliamentary secretary in the first term of the M L Khattar-led BJP government, had then said he was quitting the party keeping the farmers’ issue in mind.

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