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.