A combative Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has dared his Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh to list out measures taken for farmers' welfare.
Under attack from Singh over the farmers' protests against the three farm laws, Khattar listed out a series of steps taken by his government and claimed that Punjab hiked cane prices only after protests by farmers.
“Haryana has been paying the highest MSP in the country for sugarcane to its farmers for the last 7 years. Why has Punjab felt the need to match Haryana only after an agitation by farmers?” Khattar asked.
Last week, Singh approved a Rs 15 per quintal hike in the State Agreed Price (SAP) of all sugarcane varieties for the 2021-22 crushing season after protests by cane growers.
On Monday, Khattar had accused the Congress government in Punjab of fuelling farmers' unrest in Haryana.
“Who is anti-farmer, Amarinder Ji? Punjab or Haryana?” asked Khattar after highlighting in eight of his tweets various steps taken by his dispensation for farmers’ welfare.
In a hard-hitting response to Khattar, Singh “atrocious assertions of the Haryana CM that his government had done more for the farmers than the Punjab government”.
“If that is the case, then why are your own state's farmers angry with you and your Bharatiya Janata Party," Singh asked.
On sugarcane procurement, Singh said his government had exceeded Haryana's MSP and Punjab was now at the top amongst all states by fixing a state assured price of sugarcane at Rs 360 per quintal for 2021-22.
He termed Khattar's claims and questions as "nothing but a shoddy defence against the nation-wide criticism of the latest in the series of violent assaults on peacefully protesting farmers by his government".
(Published 31 August 2021, 14:26 IST)
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