Former chief minister and senior BJP leader Capt Amarinder Singh, who has been lying low for quite some time, on Friday, lashed out at the chief minister Bhagwant Mann over the ‘tardy’ paddy procurement in the state, alleging the latter ‘turned his back on the farmers’ facing hardships in the mandis.
Amarinder visited Asia’s largest grain market in Khanna on Friday and met farmers and arhtiyas (commission agents) and later while talking to mediapersons said that the grain markets are bursting at the seams as paddy has not been lifted from the mandis.
Former CM pointed out that Mann has not visited the grain markets even once, adding that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure a smooth procurement process rather than avoid addressing the issues.
“If there’s a problem with the centre, the CM should meet with the Prime Minister, home minister, and FCI officials to resolve it. During my term as a Congress chief minister, the BJP was in power at the Centre, yet we didn’t encounter such difficulties,” Amarinder said.
He added that farmers are waiting in mandis for up to eight days to sell their produce and the delay is ‘unbearable’.
{{/usCountry}}He added that farmers are waiting in mandis for up to eight days to sell their produce and the delay is ‘unbearable’.
{{/usCountry}}He promised that he would bring the matter to the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.
Regarding the PR 126 rice variety, the former CM asked who told the farmers to sow this particular variety.
“It was the chief minister. But where is he now? He should have come here. When farmers are facing problems, he has turned his back on them,” Amarinder said, questioning the government’s handling of the issue.
Capt’s mandi visit a drama: FM Cheema
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday said that Capt Amarinder Singh was staging a ‘drama’.
Cheema asked him that he often meets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, but why has he never raised the issues of Punjab’s farmers and commission agents? “Captain’s political career has ended. Since the public has rejected him, he is now pretending to show sympathy for farmers by visiting the mandis,” he said.