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BJP-AAP nexus has failed Punjab’s farmers: Bajwa
Bajwa accused both parties of colluding to undermine Punjab’s agricultural backbone, leaving farmers on the brink of despair, with a bleak “Black Diwali” looming over the state.
Punjab’s Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa has called out what he describes as a “dangerous charade” orchestrated by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre. Bajwa accused both parties of colluding to undermine Punjab’s agricultural backbone, leaving farmers on the brink of despair, with a bleak “Black Diwali” looming over the state. Despite a high-profile meeting, held on October 14, between Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Union minister Ravneet Bittu and Union food minister Prahlad Joshi, the crisis remains unaddressed, exposing the hollowness of their so-called cooperative assurances.
“How can two political entities display such camaraderie and then attempt to scapegoat each other for their shared failures?” Bajwa questioned. Bajwa called on AAP and BJP to take responsibility for Punjab’s worsening agricultural crisis rather than engaging in theatrics. “Farmers in Punjab need leaders who govern, not actors who perform,” he concluded.
Commenting on AAP protest in Chandigarh, Bajwa dismissed the event as political theatre, staged to deflect from AAP’s own failures in Punjab. “This wasn’t about championing farmers’ rights,” Bajwa remarked. “It was a calculated performance aimed at creating optics, distracting the public from AAP’s own complicity in Punjab’s agrarian distress.”
Fix accountability for paddy fiasco: Manoranjan Kalia to Punjab
Addressing a conference in Jalandhar, Kalia demanded that chief minister Bhagwant Mann take responsibility for criminal negligence of adulteration of hybrid seeds in PR 126, early transplanting of PR 126 and delay in tendering of fortified rice thereby making paddy procurement a disaster.
“The tardy procurement had resulted in a jolt not only to the farmers and traders but to Punjab’s economy,” he said.
He added, “To meet the supply, PR 126 was adulterated with hybrid seeds and other short duration varieties with no recognition from PAU. The state government should show the record that how much seeds of PR 126 were available in Punjab before the start of paddy sowing season and in how much area it was grown.”
