CHANDIGARH: Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala on Thursday said if the Centre was ready to amend the new agriculture laws ensuring minimum support price (MSP), he believed their main demand had been fulfilled. He also said farmers should continue to talk to the Centre, as the deadlock could be ended only with the dialogue. The JJP leader also offered to mediate in the issue if the Centre assigned him the responsibility.
Continuation of dialogue between the farmers and the central government was the only way out of the current situation, he said, adding that the agitation by Anna Hazare was also resolved only through the mediation and the dialogue.
Chautala reiterated that he would resign from the government if MSP was denied to farmers. He was talking to mediapersons in Chandigarh on the sidelines of a press briefing on the state’s industrial policy approved by the state cabinet on Wednesday.
On a question regarding any kind of pressure on him in view of the farmers’ agitation, Chautala said there was no pressure on him and the BJP and JJP coalition government would complete its five-year term.
On imposition of 2% panchayat tax on power bills, the deputy CM said the aim was to strengthen the village panchayats financially. He said the amount collected through the tax would not go to the state exchequer but would be deposited by the power companies directly in the accounts of village panchayats.
Thus panchayats would not remain dependent on the state government for carrying out the development work in their areas. Moreover, no such tax would be imposed on the power connection for agriculture purposes or any agriculture-based industries, he added.