Ludhiana (Punjab): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Anil Sarin on Sunday said that Shiromani Akali Dal has quit National Democratic Alliance (NDA) out of “political compulsions” over the passage of farm Bills in the Parliament. He further slammed the Opposition for allegedly “misleading” people over the issue of agriculture reform Bills.
“They have come out of the alliance with the NDA due to their political compulsion. They have withdrawn their support because of the present condition of Punjab. I disagree with them that the farm Bills were passed all of a sudden and their consent was not taken. It was first discussed by the Cabinet leaders in which Harsimrat Kaur Badal was also present,” he said while speaking to ANI.
“Some of the Opposition party leaders are misleading people on these farm Bills. As per these Bills, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) will not be taken away. It will remain the same,” Sarin added.
SAD on Saturday decided to pull out of the BJP-led NDA alliance over “Centre’s stubborn refusal to give statutory legislative guarantees to protect assured marketing of farmers crops on MSP”.
The decision was taken at the core committee meeting of SAD which was presided over by the SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal. The meeting unanimously decided to pull out of the BJP-led NDA alliance. The decision came at the end of a meeting that lasted over three hours.
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 were passed by Parliament recently. A third bill relating to amendment in the Essential Commodities Act has also been passed by Parliament. (ANI)