Punjab CM asks Akalis to back farmers’ cause

Chandigarh, June 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, here on Saturday, urged the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to set ots political compulsions aside and follow the heart in the interest of the state and its farmers on the issue of the Centre's farm sector ordinances.

Recalling that he had made the same plea to the Akalis during the all-party meeting, the Chief Minister said the SAD was not realising the grave implications of these ordinances and was putting its political interests before the interests of the state.

If the SAD continued to put its political interests above the state that would ruin Punjab, he said.

Stressing that there should be no politics when it comes to the state's interests, Singh said during his first tenure as the Chief Minister he had abrogated the water agreements with neighbouring states to save Punjab's water from going out via the proposed SYL canal.

Not only had he gone against his own party, but had put his career on stake, he said. "Punjab's interests are paramount for him, as they should be for the Akalis too," he said.

Stating that the three ordinances are based on the Shanta Kumar panel's recommendations, which had advocated end of MSP and dismantling of FCI, the Chief Minister said during his Facebook Live #AskCaptain session that if the ordinances were allowed to be passed and enacted, the Centre would get the green signal to interfere in the state subject of agriculture for all times.

It would encourage the Centre to take whatever decisions they wanted on the subject, including implementation of the panel's recommendations, he said.

Source: IANS