Farmers' protest politically motivated: Union Minister Karandlaje

Mangaluru: The ongoing farmer's protest in Delhi is politically motivated, Union Minister for the State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shobha Karandlaje claimed on Thursday.

Addressing reporters in Udupi, she said the MS Swaminathan committee had given 207 recommendations in its report, which was kept in "deep cold storage" by the UPA government. She claimed that all the recommendations were addressed by the Narendra Modi government alone, and minimum support price (MSP) was one among them.

"The government is now providing MSP for 22 crops. The ongoing agitation when elections are drawing near is a political protest in the name of farmers," she alleged.

"This is part of a conspiracy by a few organisations and international movements," she further claimed, adding that the government is prepared to hold talks with the farmers.

On her candidature in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Karandlaje said she will be contesting again from the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency unless the party decides otherwise.

She said her name is being proposed for at least five to six constituencies. "But Udupi-Chikkamagaluru remains my constituency," she said.

The minister said the people of the Lok Sabha segment had made her victorious, though she was new to them, and therefore, there is no question of shifting to other constituencies. "However, if the party wants to shift me somewhere, I will abide by the decision," she said.

She said several developmental works had been carried out in the constituency during the last five years, and her campaign would be based on development.

Three Union ministers began their third round of talks with the leaders of protesting farmer unions in Chandigarh Thursday evening, amid a standoff between the protesters and security personnel at two points on the Punjab-Haryana border.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26.

Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai are representing the central government in the meeting over farmer unions' various demands.