Punjab polls: Cong evades question on SSM ticket to R-Day violence accused Lakha Sidhana

The Congress on Monday refused to comment on the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha SSM fielding Lakha Sidhana, an accused in the Republic Day violence at Red Fort last year, in the upcoming Punjab assembly elections.Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the real issue is what the government has done for the welfare of farmers and why Ajay Mishra Teni continues to be the Union minister even though his son is the prime accused in the case of mowing down of farmers Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.I dont think the issue is about who is fielding whom.

The Congress on Monday refused to comment on the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) fielding Lakha Sidhana, an accused in the Republic Day violence at Red Fort last year, in the upcoming Punjab assembly elections.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the real issue is what the government has done for the welfare of farmers and why Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ continues to be the Union minister even though his son is the prime accused in the case of mowing down of farmers Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.

''I don't think the issue is about who is fielding whom. It is about what is this government doing for farmers. We are six days short of February 2022 when farmers' income was supposed to be doubled. The reality is that the average farmer in India is earning an average of Rs 27 per day. What is the government doing about it?'' Shrinate told reporters.

“We are living in a regime where Ajay Mishra Teni continues to be the Union minister while his son is the main accused,'' she added.

She also cited Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik’s recent claims against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the farmers’ issues.

When Malik met Modi, he told him that 500 farmers have died but the prime minister asked whether they had died for him, she said.

The Congress leader asked why the government has increased the cost of agriculture by Rs 25,000 per hectare by inflating the cost of diesel, pesticides and fertilisers. She also highlighted the death of a farmer in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur while waiting for his turn at fertiliser shop for two days. ''These are the questions that one needs to raise and I think the foremost question is how Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ still a minister,'' she asked.

SSM is a political front launched by 22 farmers' unions to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab. It fielded gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana from the Maur assembly constituency in its list of 34 candidates released on Sunday.

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