Hitting out at the Congress-led UPA for imposing wealth tax on farmers, the Punjab government on Friday said the move is a crushing blow to peasants.
"This unfortunate step of the UPA government has exposed its anti-farmer's stance...the imposition of wealth tax would further accentuate agonies of the peasants," Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal told reporters here today.
He alleged due to the Centre's "adverse policies" like hike in agricultural inputs coupled with non-remunerative MSP, farmers of the state were already on the crossroads and to further aggravate the situation the union government has now decided to impose this tax "arbitrarily".
"We will take up the matter with the union government to safeguard interest of the farmers," Badal said.
Replying to a query, he said if Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who was awarded death sentence by the Supreme Court in the 1993 Delhi blast case, is hanged, it could disturb peace of the state and provide fresh breeding ground to anti-social elements.
The SAD leader had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee and pressed for the commutation of Bhullar's death sentence to life imprisonment for the sake of "hard-earned communal harmony and peace in Punjab and the rest of India".
Badal also said the state government is considering giving cash relief to cancer patients instead of giving it to hospitals.
Later, Badal accompanied by Punjab Assembly Speaker Charanjeet Singh Atwal and cabinet ministers, including Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Ajit Singh Kohar and Chunni Lal, took part in a rally organised to mark 'Ram Navami'.