Manoranjan Kalia comes in defence of ordinances on agriculture

Tribune News service

Amritsar, July 2

Former Punjab minister and senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia on Thursday accused the state Congress of double standards in opposing the recent three ordinances related to agriculture brought in by the Union Government.

Kalia said at a press conference here today that the state government in 2017 had amended the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) Act. “The amended APMC and the ordinances are same. If the amended APMC is good for farmers, how these ordinances are harmful,” he reasoned.

Kalia said the Union Agriculture Minister had repeatedly stated that the government had no intention to withdraw the MSP for crops and the three ordinances do not have anything to do with it.

The BJP leader said the state Congress was just trying to distract people as it had failed to fulfill poll promises made in 2017. He added the purpose of the three ordinances was to create an ecosystem in which farmers and traders were free to sell and purchase crops. He claimed that it would help farmers as they would get a better price.