At his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi urged him to end the deadlock with the agitating farmers by repealing the three farm laws and resuming dialogue with them.
Mr Channi called on the Prime Minister for the first time after assuming office last month.
During his meeting, the Chief Minister also requested that the procurement of paddy in Punjab be commenced immediately; the process has been put off till OCtober 10.
“I asked the PM to resolve the matter of farmers’ protest and resume dialogue with the protesting farmers. I demanded that the three laws should be scrapped,” Mr Channi told reporters after his meeting with Mr. Modi.
Since November 26 last year, farmers have been protesting outside the Delhi border as well as other places in North India. Though the Centre has held a few rounds of talks with the farmers’ association, there has no breakthrough as the farmers have been insisting on repealing the three laws.
“I have told him that Punjab’s economy is agriculture driven and Punjab can only progress if our farmers and farm labourers are happy,” the Chief Minster said, adding that he conveyed to Mr Modi that “Punjab is suffering because of the farmers’ agitation”.
The newly appointed Chief Minister also requested the Prime Minister to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor that had been closed as part of the COVID-19 restrictions.
The official twitter handle of the Prime Minister’s Office also shared photographs of the meeting and said, “The Chief Minister of Punjab, Shri @CHARANJITCHANNI called on PM”.
Mr Channi’s meeting with Mr Modi comes just days after his predecessor, Capt. (retd.) Amarinder Singh, had met Home Minister Amit Shah, reportedly over the farm laws and the minimum support prices for Punjab’s farmers.
Amid an ongoing crisis in the Punjab Congress over the resignation of State unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, the newly appointed Chief Minister returned to Chandigarh without meeting his party’s top leadership.
Sources in the party however said no meetings were scheduled because the high command did not want to send a signal that it was trying to micro-manage the issue and wants the State leadership to resolve the problem with Mr Sidhu. Asked about the stand off with Mr Sidhu, the Chief Minister evaded a direct response.
In a parallel development, Congress president Sonia Gandhi met former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and party veteran Kamal Nath on Friday. As Mr Nath is known to be close to Capt. Amarinder Singh, the meeting fuelled speculation about developments on the Punjab crisis. However, there was no official word on the meeting.
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