SAD Rejects Punjab Farm Bills: The Tribune India

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, October 22

Turning 180 degrees, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today rejected bills passed by the Punjab Assembly to block the Center’s agricultural laws, claiming that lawmakers had been misled. The Akali MLAs had supported the bills in the House and were part of the CM-led delegation that delivered them to the governor.

The SAD had initially endorsed the Center’s agricultural ordinances, but later severed ties with the BJP, saying the government had reneged on its promise to include the amendments suggested by it in the final draft.

Addressing the media after the party’s central committee meeting here, SAD Chairman Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that Captain Amarinder Singh had misled the opposition while reading a resolution that the bills presented by his government “rejected” the central laws. “Copies of the bills were provided to legislators just before they were presented in the Assembly. They did not have time to read them carefully. We have now rejected the bills after reviewing the details, “he said, adding that if voted for power, the SAD would block the Center’s” anti-farmer “laws by declaring Punjab a Main Market Area and repealing the APMC law promulgated by Amarinder government. “The resolution, passed unanimously by Vidhan Sabha, had flatly rejected the agricultural laws of the Center.

He stated that the Government of Punjab undertook to declare the entire state as a Main Market Area. It also rejected the APMC Act of 2017. But the bills subsequently submitted by the Amarinder government did not include any of these provisions. The CM has deceived and betrayed the Chamber, ”Sukhbir alleged.

Noting that Punjab farmers were the backbone of the state, he said: “We have been demanding that the MSP regime cover all 22 listed crops. When SAD forms a government, we will make sure this is done. “