SAD, Congress Acted Against Farmers' Bills Only After AAP Raised Issue: Bhagwant Mann

New Delhi: The AAP on Thursday claimed that it was only after the party raised the issue that the Akali Dal and Congress made a “U-turn” on the three agriculture-related bills in Parliament. AAP Lok Sabha MP Bhagwant Mann claimed that until some days back the SAD was supporting the “anti-farmer” bills and today they are “shedding crocodile tears”.

“Only after they (AAP) raised the issue that the Akali Dal and Congress took a U-turn on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) ordinance bills,” he said. “Both Punjab Chief Minister and Punjab Finance Minister from Congress supported these bills in the preparatory stage,” Mann further claimed.

Noting that the “anti-farmer” bills should have been stopped when they were in the preparatory stage, Mann said Cabinet Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD should have resigned on the day these bills were tabled for Cabinet nod. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal submitted her resignation as Union minister to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday, hours after party president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced in the Lok Sabha that she will quit the Modi government in protest against the three farm bills tabled by the Centre in Parliament.

In his speech during a discussion on two of the farm bills — the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, Sukhbir Singh Badal said the proposed laws will “destroy” the 50 years of hard work done by successive Punjab governments to build the farm sector. The Centre had on Monday introduced in Parliament the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to replace the ordinances promulgated earlier. The proposed legislation is being perceived by some sections of farmers, especially in states like Punjab and Haryana, as being against their interests.

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