SAD-BJP members to attend all-party meet convened by Punjab CM on June 24

The SAD and its ally BJP on Tuesday decided to attend an all-party meeting called by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on June 24 over the issue of three ordinances related to the agriculture sector passed by the Centre recently.

The SAD and its ally BJP on Tuesday decided to attend an all-party meeting called by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on June 24 over the issue of three ordinances related to the agriculture sector passed by the Centre recently. This was decided at a meeting of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coordination committee which was presided over by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and state BJP president Ashwani Kumar. The CM had convened an all-party meeting to evolve a consensus on the central government's agriculture related ordinances. Amarinder Singh had already said the ordinances were “totally unacceptable” to the state as they were “against the interests of farmers” and could spell the end of the minimum support price (MSP) regime. The Centre had recently passed three ordinances --the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance. It had said these would transform the farm sector and help raise farmers income. The SAD-BJP coordination committee demanded from the CM to call another meeting next week to discuss the “illicit liquor, seed and ration scams” besides other burning issues concerning the state. It noted that the state exchequer had lost Rs 5,600 crore due to mushrooming of “illegal” distilleries and bottling plants besides the release of “illicit” liquor directly from distilleries, a party release said. It said the state’s farmers lost Rs 4,000 crore due to sale of spurious paddy seeds under the seed scam

The opposition party also alleged that the poor of the state had suffered during the lockdown with the government “diverting” ration sent by the Centre to Congress leaders. The committee also raised other issues of farmers, including prevailing upon private sugar mills to release Rs 383 crore to sugarcane growers

The SAD-BJP coordination meeting also observed a two-minute silence in the memory of 20 Indian soldiers who were killed in a violent clash with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Ladakh last week. PTI CHS VSD SRY