Punjab CM meets PM Modi, asks him to resume dialogue with protesting farmers

New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday said that he asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the matter of farmers’ protest and resume dialogue with the agitating farmers.

Channi met PM Modi in Delhi today for the first time after taking oath as the Punjab CM earlier this month. “I asked the PM to resolve the matter of farmers’ protest and resume dialogue with the protesting farmers. I demanded that the three laws should be withdrawn,” he told reporters here after the meeting.

The Chief Minister also requested PM Modi to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor which was closed due to COVID-19.

“I also requested to the PM that the Kartarpur Corridor, which was closed due to COVID-19 pandemic, should be reopened at the earliest,” Channi said.

Notably, this is the first meeting between the two leaders after Channi was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Punjab following the crisis in Punjab Congress and the resignation of Captain Amarinder Singh from the chief ministerial post.

“Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” tweets PMO India pic.twitter.com/Gx26K8aVL1

— ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2021

Farmers have been protesting at different sites since November 26 last year against the enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

Farmer leaders and the Centre have held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains.