NEWS

New Delhi: After its decision to repeal the three agri laws, the Centre is now facing pressure from agitating farmer unions and opposition parties to bring in a legislation guaranteeing Minimum Support Price, with ruling BJP MP Varun Gandhi also joining the chorus on Saturday saying the stir won't end till this issue is resolved. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of the agitating unions, is meeting on Sunday to decide on the next course of action, including on the MSP issue and the proposed daily tractor march to Parliament during the upcoming Winter Session, SKM core committee member Darshan Pal said.

Farmer leaders said the protesters will stay put at border areas of Delhi until the Centre formally repeals these laws in Parliament after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise announcement on Friday and indicated their stir for a statutory guarantee of MSP and withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill will continue.

New Delhi: The toll due to rain-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh increased to 17 on Saturday even as several people were still reported missing in massive floods that hit Kadappa and Chittoor districts. Atleast four people were killed in a house collapse incident in Kadiri town in Anantapuramu district. Officials who took up a rescue operation fear there could be some others trapped under the debris. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy conducted an aerial survey in Kadapa, Anatapuramu and Chittoor districts to assess the damage.

The government announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of those killed. Nellore district is also bearing the brunt as a record flood in Pennar river left many villages marooned on Saturday. Thousands of people have been shifted to relief camps in SPS Nellore district from the flood-hit areas, official sources said.

New Delhi:  A Day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced repealing of the three farm laws, pressure has now mounted on the government to drop Union Minister for State (Home Affairs) Ajay Mishra Teni. BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accept farmers' demand for statutory MSP guarantee for their crops and also sought action against Union Minister Ajay Mishra for the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri.

On the other hand, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi too has urged the Prime Minister to drop Teni from his council of ministers and not share stage with him. Priyanka Gandhi made the appeal to the prime minister through a letter that she read out in front of reporters’ hours before the commencement of the DGPs conference.

PM Narendra Modi's Gurpurab surprise was strongly driven by concern over the fallout of the prolonged agitation in Punjab, a border state where the possibility of fresh disaffection was seen to be a problematic issue that needed an urgent outreach to the Sikh community as the stir showed no signs of a resolution.

The need to remove what has been a thorn in BJP's side ahead of important state elections, particularly UP, has widely been seen as as a trigger for the announcement, but BJP and government sources stressed that the souring of inter-community relations in Punjab was a stronger reason.

The announcement came soon after the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage was restored, and Modi remembered Guru Nanak in the two meetings he addressed in UP later in the day. Modi had observed the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur and visited Gurudwara Rakabganj. He has recalled the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh's two sons in his Mann Ki Baat.