Govt should have consulted Pawar, Badal on farm bills: Praful

Senior NCP leader Praful Patel onSaturday said the Centre could have avoided protests byfarmers had it consulted leaders like Sharad Pawar, ParkashSingh Badal and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda inconnection with framing of new farm laws.

Farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been marchingtowards Delhi demanding repeal of the three farm laws, leadingto showdown with the police.

“This (protests by farmers) is the failure of theCentral government. The government should have initiated talkswith farmers at an early stage and thought twice beforebringing the new laws. I feel the government should haveconsulted leaders like (NCP chief) Sharad Pawar, who was aformer agriculture minister, Parkash Singh Badal (former CM ofPunjab), H D Deve Gowda (former prime minister) who had workedin the agriculture sector.

“After consulting these leaders, the government wouldhave realised lacunae in the new agri bills. Had these thingsbe done in the past, the bill(s) would not have been opposed,”the former Union minister said.

On the first anniversary of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congressgovernment in Maharashtra, Patel said it has been a successfulyear.

“Even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the stategovernment took many good decisions and launched a string ofdevelopmental works,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)