Two days after tweeting in support of the Supreme Court decision on farm laws, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said he supported farmers who had apprehensions about members of the committee appointed by the apex court to resolve the impasse over new farm laws.
“The farmers continue with their protests. They do not have faith in the panel as these members were said to have supported the new farm laws of the Centre in the past. Hence, the farmers don’t think anything will come out of discussions with the committee. And I agree with them. It would have been better if independent — in a true sense independent — persons had been appointed,” Pawar, a former Union agriculture minister, said.
He had earlier welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision staying the implementation of the farm laws against which farmers have protesting over the last two months. Pawar had said he hoped the move would address the farmers’ concerns.
The previous tweet had led to speculations of a rift between the Congress and NCP. While the Congress has expressed displeasure at the composition of the panel, the NCP had not openly expressed any such apprehensions until Pawar spoke about it on Thursday.
Both the parties want the three laws repealed now. Though that was not the original demand of the NCP. “We are different parties and we can have different opinions on different issues,” senior Congress leader and Maharashtra cabinet minister Ashok Chavan told CNN News18.
Ever since the farm laws were passed in Parliament, the Congress has been demanding that they be repealed. It will also organise a state-wide protest on January 16 against the farm laws. State Congress leaders will meet Governor Bhagatsingh Koshyari in Nagpur .
The NCP, on the other hand, had said that it wanted the farmers’ concerns addressed. It had not directly opposed the farm laws. The Shiv Sena has been silent on the topic so far.
These differences have brought out the rift in Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government that has Congress and NCP as allies.
(With PTI inputs)
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