Capt’s meeting with Amit Shah on farmers’ stir postponed

The meeting was postponed as Amit Shah had to leave for Gujarat, said a person privy to Capt’s efforts to resolve the standoff between the Centre and farmer unions, and was part of the delegation

Chandigarh

Capt Amarinder, who was made to resign as the CM following months of tussle and turbulence in the Punjab Congress, has already announced that he is launching his own party.

Former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday to discuss possible solutions to the ongoing farmers’ agitation was postponed.

The two-time former CM, who was scheduled to meet the Union home minister with a non-political delegation of agriculture experts and agriculturists from Punjab at 6.30pm, reached Delhi on Wednesday evening. He was, however, informed about the postponement in the morning on Thursday.

“The meeting was postponed as Shah had to leave for Gujarat,” said a person privy to Capt’s efforts to resolve the standoff between the Centre and farmer unions, and was part of the delegation. An aide of the former CM said no fresh date has been given for the meeting.

Amarinder, who was made to resign as the CM following months of tussle and turbulence in the Punjab Congress, has already announced that he is launching his own party. He had earlier said that any seat sharing arrangement with the BJP for the Punjab elections would be subject to a resolution of the farmers’ issue in their interest. He is, however, still to quit the Congress.

On Wednesday, the two-time former CM said he had been discussing various options with the Union home minister and others for resolution of the standoff. “I think I can help in finding a solution as I have been the chief minister of Punjab and am also an agriculturist,” he told reporters at a press conference in Chandigarh on Wednesday.