Farmers have strongly objected to BJP's candidature of Ajay Mishra Teni for the Lakhimpur-Kheri parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the general elections. Farmers have been demanding Teni’s resignation since the horrific Lakhimpur-Kheri October 2021 incident in which four Sikh farmers and one journalist were allegedly mowed down by Teni's son Ashish Mishra. Teni is Minister for State in the Home Ministry of the current Union Cabinet. UP govt. has announced compensation for crop loss and a waiver of electricity bills for private tube wells, but those alone won't mollify farmers. In Haryana, a day after PM Modi praised incumbent CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Khattar was removed and Nayab Singh Saini was appointed CM. The reasons are still unclear but some of them are that the party of veteran farmer's leader Om Prakash Chautala's grandson Dushyant Chautala, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), has not been able to reach an agreement on seat sharing. JJP has pulled support and likely might split. The state cabinet has resigned and will be reconstituted. Like BJP, JJP has also got into trouble with its core Jat base over Farmers' Protest 1.0 and 2.0. BJP would want JJP to eat into INC’s Jat votes and consolidate the other social segments. Meanwhile, over 100 social media accounts have been withheld in Panjab and as proposed by SKM, the labor and farmer Mahapanchayat (larger gathering) is to be held as scheduled on 14 Mar at Ram Lila ground, New Delhi.
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