Jalandhar, Jan. 8 -- A day after internal conflict came to the fore between the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Sidhupur), the top functionaries of the farmer union and its district presidents across the state denounced the activities of the rival faction. The rival group elected Dalvir Singh Sidhu, son of its founder Pishora Singh Sidhu, as the new convener of the BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference, Jasvir Singh Sidhu, senior state vice-president of the union, claimed that the parallel group has been constituted by those, who are not even active members of the unions. "The BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) is not an organisation of one particular family but it is a people's union, which has been working relentlessly for the welfare of the farmers and their rights," said Jasvir Singh, who is Pishora Singh's nephew. He added that Pishora Singh was a visionary farmer leader, who elected Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was then district president of Faridkot, as a state head purely on the basis of his sincerity and capability to lead the union in the near future in 2017. Even his family members were present during that meeting. "As per the union principles, the same rule complied for Dallewal as he would have elected and handed over the union affairs to another farmer leader associated with the union for long," he said. However, the union members condemned Dalvir Sidhu and others for allegedly defaming Dallewal and accusing him of making major decisions arbitrarily and lack of transparency in handling funds. The rebel faction claimed that no organisational elections had been held to elect representatives of union since 2017, and delay has eroded the internal democracy within the outfit. They claimed that important strategic decisions were taken without consensus. htc...