The delegation also submitted a four-point representation to Narendra Singh Tomar (File)Two days after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala’s meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar on the ongoing standoff between the Centre and farmer unions, a delegation of state BJP MPs and MLAs also met Tomar in New Delhi on Monday.
The delegation was led by Union Minister of State for Water Resources and included Ambala’s MP Rattan Lal Kataria, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh and Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini, Rajya Sabha MP DP Vats met Tomar.
Dushyant had earlier met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Food, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. On Monday, he met Nitin Gadkari. After the meeting with Tomar on Saturday, Dushyant had expressed hope that talks would resume between 24-40 hours. However, it did not happen. On Monday, he reiterated his hope that a solution would soon be found through talks and that the seventh round of talks would be held soon.
Speaking to mediapersons after meeting Gadkari, Dushyant said: “The Union government had been in touch with representatives of various farmer unions. I hope that the group of 40 farmer unions that had earlier held talks with the Centre will again meet for the seventh round of talks, soon. A solution will emerge only through talks, not through the standoff. I hope that while the Union government is ready to amend the minor clarifications that were pointed out by farmers, even the farmers should take a step back so that farming is not impacted and the standoff ends.”
Dushyant and his party JJP have been facing immense pressure from the Opposition and various Haryana farmer unions to withdraw support from the BJP-led government in the state. However, Dushyant has been reiterating his stand that as long as he is part of the state government, he would ensure that farmers get MSP for each and every grain.
The BJP delegation, according to Rohtak MP Arvind Sharma, “thanked” the Union agriculture minister for agreeing to amend certain provisions of the three contentious farm legislations. Sharma added that the delegation also raised the issue pertaining to the SYL canal. Various farmer unions from Haryana were also part of the delegation, who Sharma said, “urged the Union agriculture minister not to repeal the three farm laws as they have understood the benefits of these farm legislations”.
Sharma and Kataria, while speaking to mediapersons, expressed hope that the next round of talks would be held soon.
The delegation also submitted a four-point representation to Tomar. “We express our gratitude to you for accepting suggestions submitted by the farmer unions. We also support the demand raised by the Farmer Producer Organisation to continue these three farm legislations. We urge you to provide more and more funds to Haryana’s farmers for cold stores, cold chain enterprises because we are the nearest to the national capital,” the representation read.
It added, “We stand by to continue with the mandi system. We also thank you for your decision to ensure MSP’s continuation in writing. We urge you to continue it.”
On the SYL issues, the representation read: “SYL is the lifeline of Haryana. For the farmers, requirement of irrigation water is no less important than MSP. Thus, besides MSP, Haryana’s farmers should also be given SYL water so that the 19 lakh acres of land could be irrigated. The Union government should help in it.”