Farmers to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha on March 22

Yogendra Yadav said the Centre was trying to suppress and bury the farmers' movement and also spread false narratives

The MSP Dilao campaign, launched in Kalaburagi, is set to spread across the state with farmers planning to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha on March 22, Samyukta Kisan Morcha convening committee member Yogendra Yadav said on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference along with farmer leaders and members of the committee in Karnataka, he said the Centre had been spreading falsehoods with regard to minimum support price (MSP).

"The new farm laws will destroy the agriculture produce marketing companies and MSP. We already have an example in Karnataka," he said.

He said the committee had visited Kalaburagi and Ballari districts where they found that farmers were paid less than the MSP.

"The APMCs have also witnessed a fall in the flow of the agriculture produce. All that the farmers are demanding is the implementation of the MSP arrived at, as suggested by the report of the M S Swaminathan committee. We will continue our struggle till we get it," he said.

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He said the Centre was trying to suppress and bury the farmers' movement and also spread false narratives. "The more they try to silence, the farther the struggle is spreading," he said.

Former chairman of Agriculture Price Commission T N Prakash Kammaradi said there has been a 25% drop in the arrival of agriculture produce at APMCs, since the introduction of the new farm laws on May 15, 2020.

"As the new law permits trading outside the APMCs, farmers are getting a bitter deal," he said.

Farmers' leaders from Punjab, Haryana were present with state leaders Badagalapura Nagendra, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar and others.