In Punjab, the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) have asked the Centre not to make the state government a part of their next meeting scheduled on May 4th.

In a letter to the Union Minister of Agriculture, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, both the farmers’ forums have said that the Punjab Government has hurt their self-respect and insulted them. Farmers across the country are resentful towards them. It cheated them by arresting them while they were returning after holding talks with the Central Government delegation during a meeting on March 19th.

The letter, written to the Minister yesterday, says that if the state government representatives were included in the upcoming meeting, then the invited farmers’ leaders of SKM (Non-Political) and KMM would not attend it.

The last meeting between the Central delegation and farm leaders was held at Chandigarh on March 19th in a cordial atmosphere to talk about farmers’ demands, and the next meeting was scheduled on May 4th.