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Journalism of Courage
The alliance talks between Gurnam Singh Chaduniâs Samyukt Sangharsh Party (SSP) and Balbir Singh Rajewalâs political outfit Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) for the Punjab Assembly election seem headed for collapse over sharing seats. Chaduni, who had demanded 25 seats for his outfit, claims the SSM is offering only nine his outfit and all other farmers and workersâ outfits associated with it.
âThey are offering us only nine seats. I asked Rajewal ji to give us at least 25 seats. Either they give us our due share, or we will be forced to field our candidates separately,â said Chaduni.
The SSM had earlier formed a committee for deciding on the seat-sharing arrangement with the SSP.On January 9, Chaduni had held talks with the SSM for the poll pact and after that, he stopped the scheduled announcement of his partyâs 10 candidates for the February 14 polls.
In a video message, Chaduni, who is the chief of the Haryana unit of BKU, said he had demanded 25 seats but SSM, starting with five seats, sought to offer only nine seats to all outfits associated with SSP, which include Sanjha Sunehra Punjab, Punjab Kisan Dal, United Republic Party, Taxi union Punjab and Bharti Republic Party.
Chaduni said: âWe have been preparing for the polls for the past six months. We have candidates for 40-50 seats. They (Rajewal faction) have been ignoring (us) since formation of SSM while we want to contest the elections unitedly.â
