New Delhi: BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Sunday (September 12) listed out problems and demands of the protesting state farmers and sought relief measures for them in a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. 


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In his letter to the UP CM, Gandhi, who earlier suggested engaging with the farmers again, demanded a hike in sugarcane prices, bonus on wheat and paddy, doubling the amount of PM KISAN scheme and subsidy on diesel, PTI reported. 


The Pilibhit MP urged Adityanath to increase the sugarcane selling price to Rs 400 per quintal that currently stands at Rs 315 per quintal in UP. “Farmers should be given additional bonus of Rs 200 per quintal above the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat and paddy,” Gandhi said in the letter. Sugarcane is mainly grown in western UP, which is the hotbed of the UP farmers' protest against the Centre's three farm laws.


Further, he demanded that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme should be doubled to Rs 12,000 per annum for farmers with the state government contributing Rs 6,000 from its own funds. The BJP MP also asked the UP CM to give subsidy of Rs 20 per litre on diesel to farmers and lower the power prices with immediate effect.


When the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) had organised a Mahapanchayat at the Government Inter College ground in UP’s Muzaffarnagar on September 5, Varun Gandhi had appealed to the government to restart deliberations with the farmers to reach common ground as they are "our own flesh and blood". 


Posting a video of the crowd, Gandhi had tweeted, "Lakhs of farmers have gathered in protest today in Muzaffarnagar. They are our own flesh and blood. We need to start re-engaging with them in a respectful manner: understand their pain, their point of view and work with them in reaching common ground.” 


(With agency inputs)


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