CHANDIGARH: Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal whose fast-up-to-death entered 118th on March 23 has been shifted back to a private hospital in Patiala.
The arrested farmers leaders have decided not to file any bail applications and prefer to stay behind bars.
Sources said that the government reportedly decided on March 22 evening to shift Dallewal to a private hospital in Patiala, now being managed by a retired Punjab Police official.
Before being shifted to Patiala, Dallewal was kept at high security at the PWD rest house in Jalandhar Cantonment with security personnel tasked with foiling any attempt by farmer leaders to reach him.
He was shifted to Jalandhar following a late-night drama during which he was taken to multiple locations before he was taken to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Jalandhar around 2 am on March 20 from Patiala.
After his detention from Mohali in a police crackdown on March 19, the police detained Dallewal and other farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher in Mohali. They were on their way to protest sites at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders.
They visited the site after holding discussions with central team of minister in Chandigarh.
It is learnt that this move to shift the leader back from Jalandhar has taken many by surprise including many farmer leaders as Patiala had been the epicentre of the farmers agitation who had blocked the national highway near Shambhu and Khanauri for more than a year.
Meanwhile, the arrested farmer leaders and members of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) have decided not to file any bail applications and prefer to remain inside jail.
A 14-member delegation of the KMM visited these leaders Sarvan Singh Pandher, Kaka Singh Kotda, Abhimanyu Kohad, Manjit Singh Rai, Sukhwinder Kaur, PT John from Kerala, Nand Kumar, P Pandian from Tamil Nadu besides others at Central Jail in Patiala and said that the arrested leaders were in high spirits and reiterated their resolve to continue with the protest.
Farmer leaders Guramneet Singh and Tejveer Singh said the leaders who have been arrested have told them not to file any bail applications as they wanted to bring out the reality of the AAP-led Punjab Government before the world.
"The farm leaders feel they were cheated by the state government. The government did not even care for the convenience of those who has been on a fast for the last 117 days. They have asked to keep on meeting people and mobilise then for future protests,’’ they said.