Aggrieved by the anti-farmer policies of the Badal government, the Bhartiya Kisan Union on Monday extended support to the Punjab Congress at a meeting here with Captain Amarinder Singh, who assured them that all farmer issues would be addressed on priority once the party comes to power in the state.The meeting was attended by BKU national president and ex-MP Bhupinder Singh Mann and state president Baldev Singh Mainpur, along with several BKU members. Also present at the meeting were party leaders Sukhjinder Randhawa MLA and Gurpratap Mann.Captain Amarinder assured the BKU leaders that not only was he committed to waiving off all debts of the state’s farmers but would also address all their other problems without any delay after the formation of the next Congress government in Punjab.The BKU leaders declared that they would leave no stone unturned to throw the corrupt and anti-farmer Badals out of Punjab and would work towards the victory of Captain Amarinder led Punjab Congress in the coming Assembly elections. Captain Amarinder alone could help the farmers who were suffering every day while the Badals were shedding crocodile tears at their plight, the BKU leaders said.Charging the Badals with pushing farmers to suicide with their anti-farmers policies, the BKU leaders complained of tardy procurement of the farmers’ produce as well as delayed payments, along with other issues gripping the farming community.
They expressed concern over the spate of farmer suicides in the state, urging Captain Amarinder to involve the community during discussions on Punjab’s agricultural policy.The farmer leaders also raised the issue of evacuation of tillers from the custodian land, to which Captain Amarinder said he would address the issue and ensure that the problems of the tenants are sorted out.The Badal government, said the BKU leaders, had brought the farmers in the state to ruin. The farmers had been cheated of their dues through a series of scams, including the Rs. 31000 crore foodgrain scam and the Rs. 17000 crore pesticide scam, carried out under the patronage of Akali leaders, they said.The BKU leaders expressed full faith in Captain Amarinder’s leadership, saying farmers were flourishing during his earlier tenure as chief minister and were looking up to him to once again help them out of the crisis into which they had been plunged by the corrupt and criminal Badals. The Punjab Congress president was the true messiah of the farmers and he alone could save them from further ruin and bring the agricultural sector in the state back on track, said the BKU leaders.