Amid the ongoing farmers protest against the three new farm laws introduced by the Centre in October, a five-member opposition delegation is scheduled to meet President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday to hold discussions over the matter.
The five-member delegation will include NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja and a representative from DMK. The opposition delegation will meet President Kovind at 5 pm.
Talking to reporters, Yechury said that only 5 people will meet President Kovind because of the COVID protocol. “The five of us will probably meet before we meet the President and finalise our strategy. We have spoken to all Opposition leaders and decided our next course of action. The delegation has been limited to five because of the COVID-19 situation although we are trying to see if they allow more leaders to join. In that case we have to rush leaders to Delhi as they are mostly in their respective states,” said Yechury.
In a related development, NCP chief Pawar said the opposition leaders will meet at his residence to discuss the three bills before meeting President Ram Nath Kovind.
Meanwhile, All India Kisan Sabha General Secretary Hannan Mollah on Tuesday asserted that the farmer leaders will not attend the consultations with the government on December 9 (Wednesday). The late-night development came after talks between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a select group of farmers' representatives failed to break the stalemate.
The farmer union leaders insisted on their demand for the repeal of three new laws and rejecting the government's proposal for amendments. "No meeting will be held between farmers and govt tomorrow (December 9). The minister has said that a proposal will be given to the farmer leaders tomorrow (Wednesday). Farmer leaders will hold a meeting over government's proposal," news agency ANI reported quoting Mollah.
Mollah said a final decision on attending the sixth round of talks will be taken at a meeting of union leaders Wednesday noon at Singhu border, where thousands of farmers have been camping for the last 12 days. "The government is not ready to take back the farm laws. Tomorrow we will hold a meeting at Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border) at 12 pm," added Mollah.
