3.14 pm: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says the Centre was conspiring to destroy the farmers. “The government is trying to destroy them because they want to benefit two or three of their friends... They want to take the land of the farmers, they want to take the produce of the farmer and give it to their friends,” he alleges at a press conference in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

2.05 pm: Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary says the Supreme Court-appointed panel is an impartial one, reports ANI.

“I would urge farmers to keep their matters in front of the court so that a timely resolution can be reached,” Choudhary says. “All decisions will be taken in the court now. The government can only put forward its stand.”

1.53 pm: Shiv Sena accuses Centre of trying to end farmers’ protest by using Supreme Court as a front, reports PTI. In an article in its mouthpiece Saamana, the party says Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stature will grow if he honours the sentiments of farmers and scrap the new laws.

11.56 am: Bhupinder Singh Mann, the chief of All India Kisan Coordination Committee and a member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel to hear the farmers’ grievances against the farm laws, says that he wants to stay impartial, reports The Indian Express. Protesting farmers believe that Mann is the president of a “pro-farm laws farm union”.

11.47 am: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wishes the country on harvest festivals and extends “special prayers and wishes” to farmers protesting against the Centre’s farm laws. “Harvest season is a time of joy and celebrations,” he tweets. “Happy Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Bihu, Bhogi and Uttarayan! Special prayers & wishes for our Kisan-Mazdoors [farmers-labourers] who are fighting for their rights against powerful forces.”

8.30 am: Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi accuses the Narendra Modi government of having “misled” the Supreme Court on pre-legislative consultations it claimed to have held before passing the farm laws. He cites a response given by the Centre under the Right to Information Act, saying that there is no record of pre-legislative consultations on the three laws.

Singhvi says the Centre’s affidavit before the top court is an attempt to “prevaricate, distort, misrepresent and mislead” the Supreme Court and the nation.

8.28 am: Vijay Chhabra, the BJP chief of Punjab’s Faridkot district, has quit the party to join its former ally Shiromani Akali Dal because of the farm laws, reports The Indian Express.

“I have quit the party to express my support to farmers and Punjabiyat,” says Chhabra. “Though farm ordinance was tabled in the month of June, and I have left the party after six months of protests by farmers on this issue, earlier I was fighting for farmers while staying within the party.”

8.20 am: The Narendra Modi government is yet to decide whether to hold its next round of negotiations with farm unions on Friday, reports The Hindu. Eight rounds of talks with the government has so far failed end the impasse.

An official from the agriculture ministry tells the newspaper that no firm decision has been taken on continuing talks. However, farm unions say they have not received any notice of cancellation. “There was nothing in the Supreme Court order that says that this process needs to be stopped for two months until the committee submits its report,” says Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav. “That would be a perverse interpretation of the order.”

A quick look at the developments from Wednesday: