We supported BJP in 2014, but it didn't live up to expectations: BKU chief Naresh Tikait

lok sabha polls: Ahead of polls in western Uttar Pradesh, BKU leader Naresh Tikait criticizes the BJP. Says he is open to supporting any party in the general election.

Farmer leader Naresh Tikait says his Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) supported the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but the party did not live up to their expectations after coming to power.

Mr. Tikait lamented that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre did not acknowledge the "martyrdom" of around 750 farmers during a 13-month-long protest at Delhi's borders in 2020-21 and claimed that the BJP "reeks of dictatorship".

However, Mr. Tikait, the "Chaudhary" of the Balyan Khap of the influential Jat community in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, said the BKU members are open to supporting any party's candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.

The BKU, part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmers' unions, had participated in the major protests against the Centre in 2020-21 over the now-repealed agri-marketing laws.

"The Bharatiya Kisan Union is a big organisation where every member has some relation or link with one or the other party. Some are relatives of the candidates, some belong to the same community (as that of a candidate) or have ties at individual levels with them. So we are not very successful in making such decisions (for the BKU members) on whom to support," Mr. Tikait said.

"I have no hesitation in saying that we openly supported the BJP in 2014. I do not have any hesitation or reluctance in admitting it. But they did not live up to our expectations. They had talked about 'Ram Raj'.... They might have worked well according to their standards but a lot remained ignored," he told PTI at his family home in Sisauli village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

Noting that India is a huge country with several problems, he said all the problems cannot be solved, but a lot of issues have been ignored by the government, particularly the farmers' woes.