Amid mounting pressure from farmers, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Saturday met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Consumers Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over the farmers’ protests and tried to mollify protesting farmers from his State saying he would ensure they get the minimum support price.
He expressed hope the final round of talks between the Centre and farmer unions will be held in the next 24 to 48 hours and will lead to a conclusive result. “I am hopeful of the next round of talks between Centre and farmers in the next 24-40 hours,” Chautala said.
In a related development a group of 29 farmers met Tomar and extended their support to the new bills, threatening to stage a protest if those are repealed. The delegation, led by Bharatiya Kisan Union’s (Mann) Haryana State leader Guni Prakash, submitted a “letter of support” to Tomar on the farm laws passed by Parliament in September and demanded the Government to continue with these legislations.
Chautala, who’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) counts farmers as an important constituency and has faced prickly questions about his alliance with the BJP amid the mounting pressure to withdraw from the BJP-led Government in the State, had earlier said he will resign if the MSP system is threatened.
The Haryana Government could topple if key ally JJP pulls back support from the BJP-led Government in the State. The BJP holds power in Haryana with its 40 seats out of the 90-seat Haryana Assembly and the support of 10 JJP MLAs and five Independent MLAs.
The Congress, on the other hand, has 31 seats. Farmer unions, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, said the new laws will lead to the dismantling of the MSP system under which Government agencies buy their crop at an assured price.
After the meeting, Chautala said the crop procurement at the Government-decided MSP (minimum support price) would be ensured for each farmer till the time he was part of the State Government.