Union Minister Anurag Thakur on February 16 said he was certain that talks between agitating farmers and Union Ministers would be “cordial”. He also said he wanted to know how Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann would respond to farmers’ demands going by what the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had once demanded — that State governments pick up the tab for minimum support price (MSP).
“During the Congress regime at the Centre, Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the Punjab government make MSP payouts to farmers. Bhagwant Mann also raised a lot of questions. Now, Mann is the chief minister. Will he respond to this [Kejriwal’s] demand?” said Mr. Thakur.
He said the Punjab government should maintain law and order and hoped farmers would not resort to violence and vandalism.
Mr. Thakur added that the Union Government has had a good round of talks with the farmers’ leaders and the next round of talks will be held on Sunday. “I am fully confident that the talks will be cordial on Sunday as well and we will work towards a resolution of issues,” he said.
He said that “no government at the Centre has done as much for farmers as the Narendra Modi government.”
“In 2013-14, when the UPA government was in power, the agriculture budget was ₹27,662 crore. Now the agriculture budget under the Modi government is more than ₹1.25 lakh crore. We have transferred Rs 2.81 lakh crore directly to the bank accounts of more than 11 crore farmers through Kisan Samman Nidhi,” Mr Thakur said.
He said the total purchase of wheat, paddy, pulses and oilseeds was ₹5.5 lakh crore during the Congress-led UPA regime. The Modi government has spent ₹18.39 lakh crore towards procurement.
“If you compare our performance in any other area, the Congress pales there too,” Mr Thakur said.
