SAD's Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal quits cabinet protesting farm bills
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New Delhi: Union Food Processing Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday resigned from the cabinet in protest against the farm sector bills the government has brought in.
Harsimrat Badal walked out of Loksabha session on Thursday, when the House was taking up discussion on the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 that the NDA government has proposed in Parliament.
Akali Dal president and Harsimrat Kaur's husband Sukhbir Singh Badal had announced in Loksabha that his party's member in the Cabinet Harsimrat Badal would resign if the Bills were passed. Speaker Om Birla had switched off the microphone of Sukhbir Badal while he made the announcement.
Later Harsimrat Badal walked out of the Lok Sabha and went to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to submit her resignation.
Punjab and Haryana are on the boil with farmers organisations up in arms and the states have objected to the new bills on the apprehension that the government could abolish the system of minimum support price for crops.
In Haryana, the Jananayak Janta Party (JJP), an NDA ally, also is unhappy over the development.