Go for maize, will buy it at MSP for two years, Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh promises farmers

Senior Congress leader and Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh today held an event, “Navi Soch, Nava Punjab”, urging farmers to switch from cotton to maize.

Claiming that maize is the only immediate alternative to cotton, a crop that has been devastated by pink bollworm infestation in the past few years, he announced that he and his son, Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh, would purchase it at the MSP for the next two years.

“My son has already said that we will not contest the 2027 state elections if we fail to purchase maize at the MSP for the next two years. Cotton used to be the major crop in this area, but the situation is completely different now. Ginning and spinning mills are shutting down. I also appeal to farmers to grow sugarcane. However, my ultimate aim is to revive cotton cultivation,” said Rana Gurjeet, who had held a similar meeting in Bathinda on February 23.

The Kapurthala MLA, who, during an interview last month, had fired a salvo at PCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring by calling him a “selfish leader”, refrained from making any such comment today.