Ahead of the eighth round of talks on the agriculture laws with the Centre on Friday, All India Kisan Sabha General Secretary Hannan Mollah said that the farmer bodies were hoping for the best and prepared for the worst.

“The minister yesterday categorically declared that repeal of farm laws was not accepted,” Mollah told ANI. “ I don’t know what will happen during the discussions today.” Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, however, said he was hopeful of a resolution.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar echoed Tikait’s sentiments. “I am hopeful that talks will be held in a positive atmosphere and a solution will be found,” he told ANI. “During discussions, each side has to take steps to reach a solution.”

The latest round of talks between farmers’ unions and the government will be held at the Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi from 2 pm, as protests demanding the scrapping of the three farm laws continue.

Tens of thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting at key entry points to Delhi for over a month against the laws now, withstanding temperatures dropping to two to three degrees Celsius.

Swaraj India founder Yogendra Yadav dismissed reports that the government had formulated a new proposal for this round of meeting, according to the Hindustan Times. “There is no such thing. This is a game to divert media attention away from our successful tractor march today,” he said.

The Delhi-Haryana borders at Singhu, Tikri, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli, and Mangesh, meanwhile, continued to remain closed on Friday. Border crossing points from Uttar Pradesh were also shut. The Delhi Police have advised commuters to take other routes.

On Thursday, farmers held a tractor rally from the protest sites, bordering Delhi at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, and Rewasan in Haryana, to the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways. Farmers’ unions said that Thursday’s rally was only a “rehearsal” ahead of another such march proposed on January 26, when they plan to move into the national Capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

The farmers fear the agricultural reforms will weaken the minimum support price mechanism under which the government buys agricultural produce, will lead to the deregulation of crop-pricing, deny them fair remuneration for their produce and leave them at the mercy of corporations. The government, on the other hand, maintains that the new laws will give farmers more options in selling their produce, lead to better pricing, and free them from unfair monopolies. The laws passed in September are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and open up the market, the government has claimed.

During the first seven rounds of talks between the Centre and farmer unions, the two sides had only reached an agreement on the decriminalisation of stubble burning and safeguarding electricity subsidies – two of the four matters of contention. The government is not willing to acquiesce to the two main demands of farmers – repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for minimum support price system.