Mumbai: After an inconclusive round of talks between the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and two ministers late on Wednesday, the state government will hold further discussions with the farmer’s body as their 174-km “long march” from Nashik to Mumbai entered the fourth day on Thursday.
Following pleas by Shiv Sena (UBT) President and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party’s Leader of Opposition and state Congress President Nana Patole and others, the state government rushed Ministers Dada Bhuse and Atul Save to meet the farmers in Thane.
Later, the AIKS leaders Jiva Pandu Gavit, Ajit Nawale and others said that the government has responded to “40 per cent” of the farmers’ 17-point charter of demands.
This afternoon, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, concerned Ministers and officials will hold a second round of talks with the AIKS to resolve the issues.
Gavit made it clear that though they would attend the meeting with the Chief Minister, the ‘long march’ will continue if the state’s response is unsatisfactory.
The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) and other parties have thrown their weight behind the 20,000 farmers who embarked on the walkathon – the third in five years – to press for the implementation of their 17-point charter by the government.
–IANS