Bhupinder Singh Hooda will hold 'kisan panchayats' across Haryana

CHANDIGARH: Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said that he would hold ' kisan panchayats' in all the 22 districts of the state to raise the farmers' issues.

He said that similar meetings will be held with traders, employees and others in days to come to take up their issues against ruling BJP government, which had "failed on all fronts."

Earlier, he led a delegation of 12 Congress MLAs to submit a memorandum to governor Pof Kaptan Singh Solanki pertaining to "plight" of the farmers of the state.

They included former speakers Kuldeep Sharma, Raghubir Kadian and senior MLAs Karan Dalal, Anand Singh Dangi and Geeta Bhukkal. In the House of 90, Congress has 17 MLAs.

Hooda said that on June 25, he would hold a kisan panchayat in Rewari, on June 30 in Sirsa, on July 1 in Sonepat, on July 6 at Nuh and on July 8 in Jind.

"Likewise, we will hold such panchayats in all the 22 districts later this year and also hold meetings with different strata of society to be their voice against the ruling government", he said.

Elaborating upon memorandum, Hooda said the Congress demanded that the BJP fulfilled its poll promise of implementing Swaminathan commission report, waive farmers' loans and fix minimum support price (MSP) of sugarcane at Rs 400 per quintal.

The Congress also demanded that BJP government should lower prices of petrol and diesel, give crop insurance cover with farmers' consent and give free power and water supply to the people living under below poverty line (BPL), besides fulfill other demands of the farmers.