KARNAL: Ruling JJP's Karnal district president Inderjit Singh Goraya on Tuesday quit the party in solidarity with farmers protesting against the Centre's agriculture laws.
Goraya, a leader of BJP's coalition partner Jannayak Janta Party in Haryana, quit his party post along with the party, saying he had earlier asked Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala to exert pressure on the Centre to roll back these "anti-farmers" laws.
"The stir against these farm laws has become a people's movement but the Centre is not accepting the farmers' demand to repeal them," he said.
"Thousands of farmers are protesting for the past 70 days at various Delhi border points against these laws. I am a farmer first and I decided to resign from my post and quit the party to stand with them," he said.
He alleged that instead of accepting farmers' demands "the Centre is using tactics to defame the agitation after the January 26 in Delhi".
Asked about Dushyant Chautala's pledge to resign on being unable to secure MSP for farmers, Goraya said, "I had told him that our party should take a tough stand on farmers' issue, exert pressure on the Centre and force them to repeal these laws."
"When I met Dushyant last month, I also told him that we need to openly stand in support of farmers," he said.
On a question about INLD's lone legislator Abhay Singh Chautala resigning as MLA over the farm laws, Goraya said leaders from across parties should openly come out in support of farmers so that the centre could be persuaded to roll back the farm laws.
The opposition Congress has attacked Dushyant Chautala for "clinging" to power and supporting the "anti-farmer" laws enacted by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
Earlier on Sunday, Haryana BJP leader and former MLA from Fatehabad Balwan Singh Daulatpuria had quit the party in solidarity with the protesting farmers.
Before that on Thursday, Haryana BJP leader and former chief parliamentary secretary Rampal Majra had quit the party over the farm laws.
In September last year, Haryana BJP leader Shyam Singh Rana had also quit the party over the agriculture laws.
Rana, who was the chief parliamentary secretary in the first term of the M L Khattar government, had then said he was quitting the party keeping the farmers' issue in mind.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The protesting farmers have been expressing fears that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporates.
The government, however, has been maintaining that the new laws would bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.