CM to Sukhbir: Stop shedding crocodile tears for farmers

CHANDIGARH : Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday asked Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal to stop shedding crocodile tears over the plight of farmers, whose very existence was threatened by the farm ordinances that the Central government had passed, with the support of his party.

Having given its full backing to the ordinances, which were clearly the first step towards the elimination of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, the chief minister said that the SAD had lost all locus-standi to even pretend to care about the farmers, whose condition had deteriorated to abysmal levels.

“Sukhbir should not forget that as Union minister, his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, was part of the Cabinet meeting that stamped its approval on the ordinances that will totally destroy Punjab’s farming community,” the chief minister added.

Ridiculing the SAD president’s offer to lead a delegation of farmer organisations to seek clarification from the Centre on the MSP, the chief minister said that Sukhbir was totally disconnected from the ground situation.

He pointed out that the ordinances were completely against India’s federal structure, and were in line with the recommendations of the Shanta Kumar committee, which had also suggested dismantling the MSP structure.

It was clear that the MSP elimination would soon follow, he said, adding that Sukhbir was conveniently choosing to ignore that in order to protect the interests of SAD, in particular his own and his wife’s interests.

SAD INVITES CAPT FOR ASSURANCE ON MSP

Sukhbir Badal on Monday asked chief minister Amarinder Singh to accompany him along with farmer organisations for a blanket assurance on MSP and assured marketing from the Centre.

In a statement, the SAD chief told the chief minister, “Your repeated lies about the end of MSP regime have already been exposed by the central government. The central government has announced that the MSP and assured marketing will remain in force in the present form. “Since you are choosing not to believe this assurance, you should accompany me along with farmer organisations to get a blanket assurance on this issue from the Union agriculture minister,” said Sukhbir.