Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala on Monday said the farmer unions should take a step back on their demands to end the stand-off in the larger interest of the farming community.
Speaking to mediapersons at the party’s South Avenue office in Delhi, Mr. Chautala said as per the inputs he received, farmers were initially seeking a few amendments to the three laws and a guarantee on the minimum support price. Putting forward a new demand every day would lead to prolonging of the talks. “It has been 17 days since the agitation began and no one knows how long it might go on. It should be resolved at the earliest. It is in the larger in the interest of the farmers.”
The Centre was ready to agree on a “few things” and farmer unions too should take a step back on their demands. “The stand-off would harm the agriculture sector,” said Mr. Chautala, adding that he was hopeful that soon the seventh round of talks would begin.
“The solution can be reached only through talks and not by being adamant,” said Mr. Chautala, who was in the national Capital to call on Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari seeking expedition of road projects.
He said the Ministers at the Centre had long political experience and were ready for discussions, but the opposite party should also agree for it.
Later, Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Ambala Lok Sabha MP Rattan Lal Kataria alleged that some national and international forces were hatching a deep conspiracy through the farmers’ movement to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. He demanded to know how slogans of ‘Khalistan’ had found their way to the farmers movement. He said the government had agreed to reasonable demands of the farmers and offered them a proposal for consideration, adding that the government was now awaiting a response from the farmers’ unions on this.
Mr. Kataria was addressing a press conference in Delhi’s Haryana Bhawan along with other BJP Lok Sabha MPs after a meeting with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh said all legislators of the party from Haryana, including Rajya Sabha MPs, and the candidates of all 90 Assembly constituencies had submitted a memorandum to Mr. Tomar expressing their gratitude for agreeing to the suggestions made by the farmer unions. The memorandum said the state BJP legislators were in favour of continuation of the mandi system and the minimum support price.
