Punjab govt's statement on all-party meeting 'false, misleading', alleges SAD chief

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday accused the Punjab government of deceiving farmers by issuing a “false and misleading” press statement that his party supported the resolution seeking withdrawal of central ordinances on the agriculture sector.

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday accused the Punjab government of deceiving farmers by issuing a “false and misleading” press statement that his party supported the resolution seeking withdrawal of central ordinances on the agriculture sector. Badal also dubbed the government statement issued following an all-party meeting on Wednesday as a “breach of faith”.

Badal said at the all-party meeting on Wednesday, he had assured that the MSP will not end. “We as a party even said we are ready to get a written assurance on this account from the agriculture minister and would get an assurance from Parliament also when the ordinances tabled there,” Badal said. We even agreed to accompany a delegation to the prime minister to clarify doubts if any, he said, adding that this was "misinterpreted" by the government in its press release by "stating that the SAD would accompany a delegation of representatives of all political parties led by the CM to get the central ordinances withdrawn". The SAD president alleged that the government release has been “manipulated” to show that the SAD had supported the resolution moved by the government.

“This is furthest from the truth,” said Badal during a press conference here. He also played the recording of his entire speech made in the meeting. A government statement issued on Wednesday had claimed that all major political parties of Punjab, barring the BJP, resolved to appeal to the Centre to withdraw ordinances related to the agriculture sector in public interest and not to tinker with the MSP regime.

It had also claimed that while the BJP completely opposed the resolution, the Shiromani Akali Dal while initially expressing reservations on the same, eventually decided to partially endorse it. The resolution read that “a delegation of representatives of all political parties led by the state chief minister will meet the prime minister and the Union agriculture minister to convey their strong reservations on these anti-farmer legislations and urge them to immediately withdraw these in public interest.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hit back at the SAD chief for his “double-speak” on this issue and dared him to come out with a categorical statement that his party does not extend even conditional support to it. “Are you or are you not opposed to the resolution? Are you with the resolution, either totally or conditionally? And finally, do you or do you not agree that Agriculture is a state subject and the Centre should not interfere,” the chief minister asked the SAD president. He said the SAD chief's explicit support on two of the three points in the resolution passed at Wednesday's all-party meeting was a matter of record. The Akali president was evidently caught between political exigency, which required him to support the BJP for survival in the ruling coalition at the Centre, and the party's vote-bank in Punjab, said the CM in a statement here.

“It seems Sukhbir is now under pressure from his political masters in the BJP to retract his conditional support to the resolution, but is unable to do so emphatically because he does not want to lose the little support that the Akalis still have in Punjab,” Amarinder Singh said. Saying the people of Punjab had seen through SAD's duplicity on more than one occasion, most recently on the Citizenship Amendment Act issue, the CM once again asked Sukhbir if he was or was not with the state and its farmers on this issue of critical importance to them.