New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that BJP is trying to divert the attention by creating controversy over his letters written during his tenure as the union agriculture minister in the UPA dispensation to then Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, asking them to amend the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act in their states.
"I had said that APMC needs some reforms. APMC Act should continue but with reforms. There is no doubt that I had written the letter. But their three Acts does not even mention the APMC. They are just trying to divert the attention. No need to give importance," Pawar said at a press conference here.
The NCP chief said that the leaders from different political parties will meet tomorrow to take a collective stand on the new farm laws.
"Tomorrow 5-6 people from different political parties are going to sit, discuss and take a collective stand...We have a 5 pm appointment tomorrow with the President. We will present our collective stand before him," he said.
Earlier, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Pawar wrote letters to chief ministers for 'private sector participation' in market infrastructure.
"Sharad Pawar is also opposing the new farm laws. But when he was agriculture minister, he wrote to all CMs for 'private sector participation' in market infrastructure," he said.
The NCP is among those parties, which have supported the Bharat Bandh called by farmers' union today.
Hundreds of farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws--Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Leaders of farmer groups have held several rounds of talks with the government but all of them remained inconclusive so far. After the fifth round of talks, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called another meeting on December 9. (ANI)
