DUSHYANT CHAUTALA BREAKS SILENCE, COMES OUT IN SUPPORT OF CENTRE’S ASSURANCE ON MSP

CHANDIGARH: Ending speculation of differences with the BJP, its alliance partner in Haryana over the farmers’ protest over the new farm laws, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Thursday said the Centre has accepted the demand of assuring minimum support price (MSP) of crops.

“The Centre has accepted the demand of the farmers by assuring the MSP in writing. It is now up to the farmers’ unions to decide on it,” he told the media here.

Chautala, whose party completed two years of formation on Wednesday, hosted a lunch for Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet colleagues at his residence here.

“The demand of the farmers that the Union government must ensure MSP in writing has been fulfilled yesterday. It is now up to the farmers’ unions to decide the next course of action on the government proposal,” he said.

On his party leaders lending support to the farmers, Chautala said: “I am saying that I am a farmer first. When did I ever deny that? But it is our responsibility to ensure an adequate price for their crops.”

Chautala’s assertion assumes significance days after many legislators of the JJP, the crucial post-electoral coalition partner in the BJP-led government, extended their open support to the farmers against the new farm laws brought by the Centre.

Earlier, his younger brother Digvijay Chautala had said that Dushyant Chautala had been in constant talks with the Central leadership over the protest by the farmers, saying “the party is of the farmers and for the farmers”.

“Dushyant Chautala is constantly holding talks with the Union ministers and he’s advocating the cause of the farmers so that they do not face problems,” he had said.

“The 10 legislators of our party were born in a farmer’s house. How this is possible that we are not concerned about the issues of the farmers? The farmers should be listened to, the government should make whatever changes needed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is a farmer’s government,” he had said.

The JJP—primarily a rural Jat-centric party with farmers as its core vote bank—has been facing criticism within the party for not walking out of the alliance on the issue of the farmers and ‘clinging to power’. The Jats, a dominant farming community, comprise 28 per cent of the state’s population.