New Delhi/Sept,23: Amid protests over contentious farm bills, President Ram Nath Kovind will meet opposition leaders today at 5 PM. The meeting comes a day after the opposition parties boycotted parliament. Only five opposition leaders have been allowed to meet the President due to coronavirus protocols, officials said.
Tuesday this week , opposition leaders boycotted parliament in protest over the three bills related to the agriculture sector and suspension of eight MPs over chaos and “unruly behaviour” in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, spelt out three demands – government should bring a bill which ensures private players don’t procure food grains below a minimum support price or MSP fixed by the government, MSP be based on the recommendations of the MS Swaminathan committee report, Food Corporation of India should ensure that crops are procured from farmers at the fixed MSP.
“We will consider revoking suspension only after the suspended Rajya Sabha members apologise for their behaviour,” Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters on Tuesday. Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, Thawar Chand Gehlot, too made the same point.
