NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah is expected to meet Punjab MPs on Saturday after some Congress parliamentarians met Railway minister Piyush Goyal over resumption of freight services stalled due to the anti-farm laws agitation.
Congress MPs from Punjab petitioned Goyal for resumption of freight train services to the state, upping the ante a day after the dharna held by Chief minister Amarinder Singh and state MLAs in the capital.
The Congress members, including Amar Singh, Ravneet Bittu, Parneet Kaur, Jasbir Gill, Gurjeet Aujla, Santokh Chaudhary, Manish Tewari, met the minister with the plea that trains be resumed to the state.
However, it is learnt from Congress sources, the exchanges became heated as the minister and the MPs discussed the reasons for the rail blockade and related issues.
It is learnt the minister said the Congress members were now eager to talk because the state was facing a shortage of coal and urea because of stoppage of freight services. The MPs, a source said, did not take kindly to what they saw as a barb and answered back.
“We left the meeting in a huff with an MP saying the government was welcome not to run the trains,” a member of the delegation said.
Also, BJP leaders from Punjab were already present in the ministry when the Congress delegation arrived to meet the minister, an MP said.
Importantly, Congress LS MPs will now meet home minister Amit Shah to discuss the issues related to Punjab on Saturday.