Bhartiya Kisan Union(BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait has stated that he was trying for a truce between warring former BJP legislator Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion and his successor sitting MLA Umesh Kumar in Haridwar.

Tikait began his exercise with a meeting with Champion in jail and Kumar in Dehradun but is yet to get a breakthrough in the matter.

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He entered the ongoing fight between the former Champion and his successor Khanpur MLA Umesh Kumar as he met the BJP leader in Haridwar Jail to persuade him to compromise with Kumar instead of escalating the controversy.

Tikait on Saturday reached Haridwar and headed straight to the Haridwar Jail to meet former BJP MLA serving 14-day judicial remand for attacking and firing at the camp office of independent Khanpur MLA Umesh Kumar. In his meeting with Pranav Singh Champion BKU leader.

He tried to persuade Champion not to pursue the political rivalry to violence. He told the jailed BJP leader that communities must not be involved in the political conflict between them.

After meeting with Champion, the BKU leader called on his wife Devyani at her residence for a truce between Kumar and her husband. After this, Tikait spoke to several Gujjar community leaders in Haridwar.

Notably after firing incident on Republic day Champion was arrested by Haridwar police from Dehradun on the same day. He was sent to14- day judicial remand by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Haridwar the following day after being produced in the court.

Rakesh Tikait then left for Dehradun for talks with Khanpur MLA Umesh Sharma in Dehradun by Saturday evening. He repeated his persuasion to Kumar as well and urged him to end personal enmity with Umesh Sharma. However Tikait failed to get any proper response from either side.

Later, in a statement, Tikait said, “Both Gurjar and the Brahmin communities are angry at each other but this is not a battle between castes and communities. It’s a fight between a sitting MLA and his predecessor from the Khanpur assembly segment. Communities must not come in between the two leaders.”

“There should not be caste and community panchayats or gatherings should not be called on this matter. I have initiated the process to end the controversy between the two leaders. Both will be persuaded to end enmity as it creates chink in the society. We hope the on-going battle between Champion and Kumar ends soon,” he added.

Political rivalry between Champion and Kumar took a violent turn on the eve of Republic day when the latter, along with his supporters, allegedly tried to barge into the former’s residence and threatened to kill his personal staff. This was followed by Champion and his supporters attacking the camp office of Kumar in Khanpur.