Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday asked AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal not to “tell white lies to befool farmers” in Gujarat in the run-up to the assembly elections there. In a statement, former minister and Akali leader Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking that Kejriwal was claiming in Gujarat that the AAP government in Punjab was giving minimum support price on five crops and that the same formula would be replicated in Gujarat.
“The truth is that the central government is procuring wheat and paddy on MSP in Punjab through the Food Corporation of India. Similarly, the Cotton Corporation of India procures cotton. “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had urged farmers to sow moong and promised to procure the entire crop on an MSP of Rs 7,250 per quintal but did not even procure ten per cent of this crop. The Punjab government has similarly failed to procure maize,” he alleged. Asking Kejriwal not to give false hopes to farmers of Gujarat, Cheema said the farmers should come to Punjab and see the ground reality for themselves.
“The truth is that farmers are indebted because they believed the AAP government and went in for large scale cultivation of maize and moong,” he said. The SAD leader said far from giving MSP on all crops, the Punjab government had still not given compensation to farmers whose crops had been damaged due to untimely rains.
With inputs from News18