Bhupinder Hooda's Stubbornness Sank Congress: Farmer Leader Rakesh Tikait

After the Congress lost the Haryana Assembly elections, Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said on Sunday that former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda's stubbornness sank the party.

Reacting to a statement by farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni, he said, "There was resentment among the farmers. It is not that the farmers did not go with other parties. The farmers voted for every party. There is resentment among the people who joined the movement. Those who did not join the movement are with the government."

"Elections are fought on a party basis, religion basis and caste basis. People will vote in favour of like-minded parties. A person who is a farmer, a labourer or a shopkeeper will vote for a party he has faith in. They (farmers) all live together in the organisation. If a person starts considering the people of the organisation as being in his favour, then he is wrong," he added.

The BKU leader also raised questions about discrepancies in EVMs. "You did not understand mathematics. The public has voted...but they (BJP) are the ones who win... Like the sugarcane committee elections are being held in Uttar Pradesh, their (BJP's) direct game here is to cancel the nominations of the people of the other party and win without election," he told IANS.

"People in the BJP have become masters of elections... by fighting with sticks, intellect, or by making people fight with each other, they will win the elections. It is their tactic that they have to win the elections," Mr Tikait said.

"There was definitely something wrong in this election (Haryana), we had said this earlier as well. EVMs are kept somewhere and then when elections are held somewhere else, are the EVMs shown to any party before they are sent to booths? The engineers do all the programme setting... yes, it is all a game of EVMs. You press any button...votes will go to them (BJP)," he claimed. 

Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni blamed Mr Hooda for the Congress' defeat in Haryana.

"Mr Hooda is the biggest reason for the Congress' defeat because he did not compromise with anyone, and all responsibility was placed on him," he asserted.