A delegation of farmer leaders from several states met Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Parliament House complex on Wednesday and apprised him of their issues and demands from the central government.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Congress leaders Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa,Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Dharamvir Gandhi, Amar Singh, Deepender Singh Hooda and Jai Prakash were also present in the meeting.
The delegation comprised 12 farmer leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
"We will have a discussion with INDIA bloc leaders and will put pressure on the government to ensure that the farmers get a legal guarantee for MSP," Rahul Gandhi told reporters after the meeting.
One of the farmers, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, said the government had failed to fulfill assurances so far. "Swaminathan report implementation is a must. We will continue march towards Delhi..." NDTV quoted him as saying.
Farmers from Punjab led by SKM (Non-Political) and KMM began the 'Delhi Chalo' march to Delhi on February 13 to demand MSP for crops, among other things, but were stopped by Haryana Police, who had set up barricades, including cemented blocks, on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway.
The farmers clashed with police personnel and have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points ever since.
On July 10, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the Haryana government to open the barricades at the Shambhu border within a week on an "experimental basis". The court also directed the Punjab government to ensure that the protesters gathered in its territory are "duly controlled as and when the situation so requires".
The Haryana government moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court order.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday proposed that an independent committee comprising eminent persons to reach out to the protesting farmers, camping at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border since months, to find a solution to their demands.
The three-judge bench of the top court headed by Justice Surya Kant observed that there is a "trust deficit" between farmers and the government.
The Court asked the Punjab and Haryana governments to suggest the names of suitable individuals who can be included in the committee. Till next week, the Supreme Court directed that status quo be maintained by both the States at the protest site to "prevent the flaring up of the situation at the Shabmhu border," LiveLaw reported.
