Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri on Friday challenged Agriculture Minister Gopal Rai on what he alleged was his “false statement” on wheat procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
Demanding Mr. Rai’s resignation if the Minister’s allegation against the FCI was proven wrong, Mr. Bidhuri offered to step down from his position as LoP asserting that the FCI started procuring wheat at the minimum support price (MSP) on April 6.
“It was only after the State government did not respond to the FCI’s request to verify details like Aadhaar card or land revenue record of farmers that the decision to procure wheat at FCI godowns in Narela, Najafgarh and Mayapuri was taken,” Mr. Bidhuri said.
“The verification of the documents is important to eliminate middlemen or dubious people from the records so only genuine farmers get the MSP price for their produce. The FCI had already started the procurement of wheat at three centres form April 1 at the MSP of ₹1,975 per quintal,” he also said.
In fact, Mr. Bidhuri said he along with Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta and Delhi BJP Kisan Morcha head Vinod Sherawat had helped initiate the procurement of wheat from the farmers at Narela on April 6.
This, he alleged, rattled the Delhi government, which was caught on the wrong foot as its campaign to “defame the Central government” for not giving MSP for wheat had fallen flat.
“BJP MLAs along with farmers will go to meet Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the issue on Saturday and if he refuses to meet, we will sit on a dharna outside his residence,” he added.
