NEW DELHI: Faced with growing protests against the MLAs of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Saturday rushed to the national capital to call on Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal and Narendra Singh Tomar to press for dialogue with the agitating farmers.
Chautala stressed after the meetings that the BJP-JJP government in Haryana is stable, with the state government committed to ensure minimum support prices (MSP).
The electoral base of the JJP is largely among the agrarian community in Haryana, who have thrown their weight behind the agitating farmers against three laws enacted by the Parliament in the Monsoon session to reform the trade of the agricultural produces.
"We all need to sit and finalise... 'I am hopeful the way the Centre is engaging with protesting farmers and has given a 24-page reply to the demands of the farmers union, the situation at borders will normalise with a mutual agreement and there would be a conclusion to this issue with mutual consent. The solutions should be found amicably with talks, which may happen in the course of the next two days," Chautala told reporters after his meeting with Tomar, the Union minister for agriculture and farmers' welfare.
Union ministers are learnt to have told Chautala that the farm laws would benefit the farmers, with the private investment coming in supply chain and food processing, which can lead to qualitative improvement in the income of farmers.
Cahutala stressed that the Haryana government is stable. Incidentally, the JJP MLAs are increasingly facing protests by the farmers for the alliance of the party with the BJP in the state.
While Chautala reiterated that the MSP will be ensured in the procurement of the foodgrains, the agitation of the farmers is focused in demand for repeal of the three laws. The NDA government at the Centre has made it evident that there will be no going back on the farm laws, with the BJP launching outreach across the country to build up support for the new initiatives.