IT IS A PACKED Saturday.
First, a crucial development is happening on the farmers protest front.
Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite hunger strike for 39 days, has appealed to farmers to reach the Khanauri protest site at the Punjab-Haryana border in large numbers on Saturday to strengthen the fight seeking a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Last week, the farmers had called for a “Kisan Mahapanchayat” at Khanauri.
In a 70-second video message released on Friday, Dallewal said he is appealing to the people of the country, who are part of the fight for a legal guarantee on the MSP, “that they must reach Khanauri”.
The farmers, under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
Dallewal has so far refused to take any medical aid despite his prolonged fasting, which has caused his health to deteriorate.
Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar told reporters at Khanauri that Dallewal will speak for two-three minutes at Saturday’s event to send across an important message.
Another senior farmer leader, Sarwan Singh Pandher, who is the coordinator of the two fora that are spearheading the agitation at Shambhu and Khanauri, said the Centre continues to adopt a “stubborn attitude” and is not resolving the issue. Asked about holding talks with the protesting farmers to end the logjam, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Wednesday that the government will act in accordance with the Supreme Court’s instructions on the ongoing farmers’ protest at the Punjab-Haryana border.
Meanwhile in Delhi, the BJP is holding an internal meeting for deliberations for the Union Territory’s Assembly polls.
The BJP has so far not released any names for the Delhi Assembly elections – trailing both the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress in this – let alone clarified whether it will have a chief minister face or not. However, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually launched the BJP’s campaign for the Capital Friday, pitting his government model directly against the AAP’s, any remaining doubts about who would lead it, and how, were settled.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday targeted Arvind Kejriwal, chief of the ruling AAP, saying he could have built a “Sheesh Mahal” for himself but chose to give people, especially the poor, a home of their own.
He later went on to list the BJP schemes and positioned them against the AAP’s.
In Patna, the 70th PT Re-Exam of the Bihar Public Service Commission is scheduled to take place on Saturday at 10 centres across the city. Security has been tightened in the city.
IN CONTEXT: BPSP aspirants have been asking for the cancellation of the prelims held last month and for the exam to be conducted afresh.
Hundreds of candidates who had appeared for the BPSC prelims, conducted on December 13 at 912 centres across Bihar, have been protesting in Patna since December 18, calling for the cancellation of the exam, alleging that CCTV cameras and jammers had not been functional at several examination centres and that question papers had been distributed late at some locations. The BPSC has so far agreed to reschedule the exam only for those who took it at one centre in Patna, where an exam official died of heart attack amid ruckus.
(With PTI inputs)
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