New Delhi, July 24 (FN Bureau) Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met a farmers’ delegation from the two organisations — Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) — at his office in the Parliament, and held discussion on the issue of legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP). After the meeting, Gandhi told reporters, “In our manifesto, we have mention about MSP with legal guarantee. We have thoroughly assessed it and this can be implemented. We had a meeting and it was decided that we will discuss with the leaders of INDIA bloc to put pressure on the Government that the farmers should be given legal guarantee for MSP.” Meanwhile, the farmers said that they had a discussion on MSP legal guarantee and Rahul Gandhi assured them that he will talk to the INDI alliance leaders on this issue.
The delegation comprised of farmer leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The meeting was also attended by Congress MPs including KC Venugopal, Raja Brar, Jairam Ramesh, Charnajeet Singh Channi and Deepender Singh Hooda. Earlier, the former Congress President alleged that the farmer leaders who had sought appointment to meet him in the Parliament were denied permission. Rahul said, “I had invited the leaders for a meeting inside the Parliament but they are not being allowed. We were told that they can’t come inside, may be, because they are farmers. We were not given any reason. I think you (media) can ask the Prime Minister about the reason”. But after some time, the farmer leaders were granted permission to enter the Parliament. The meeting comes a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha.