Amid the ongoing farmers protest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar alleged on Tuesday that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has jeopardised the efforts of both farmer leaders and union ministers to arrive at a solution, reports news agency PTI. The remarks of the saffron party leader come a day after farmers rejected the Centre's proposal to buy pulses, maize, and cotton crops through government agencies at the minimum support price (MSP) for five years, and announced to continue with their 'Delhi Chalo' agitation.
The AAP leader, Bhagwant Mann, who also leads the government in the state, had joined the meeting between three Union ministers and farmer leaders where the proposal was made. It is "most unfortunate" that the negotiations between farmers and the central government have not fructified, Jakhar said, as thousands of farmers camp at the Punjab-Haryana border over their demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP and farm debt waiver.
"With Bhagwant Mann himself -- of all the people -- acting as the lawyer for the farmers, these negotiations were destined to fail because CM Mann had everything to gain from the failures of these talks," he said in a post on X.
Claiming on the developments on Monday, he said that only Mann would now be able to show the central government in "bad light" but redirect those farmers, who initially wanted to march to Chandigarh, to Delhi. He said that "sure enough, he (Mann) has succeeded in this mission by jeopardising the sincere efforts of both the farmers and the central ministerial team to arrive at a solution".
"Punjab wonders who gave the 'vakalat nama' (authority) to represent the farmers to such a person, who not only backtracked on his promise to provide MSP within five minutes of formation of his government but also cheated Punjab's farmers of the compensation for flood damage," Jakhar said as quoted by news agency PTI.
Mann pariticpated as an "advocate" of the farmers on Sunday. He has joined three of the four meetings held between farmer leaders and Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda, and Nityananad Rai.
(With input from agencies)