Priyanka Gandhi to visit UP’s Saharanpur today to attend kisan mahapanchayat

Amid ongoing protest by farmers against the Centre’s three farm laws, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is set to visit politically crucial Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday to attend a ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ in Saharanpur district.

Gandhi is scheduled to take part in the kisan mahapanchayat at Chilkhana as part of Congress’ outreach campaign ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’

The campaign will be started in 27 districts of the state and many prominent party leaders will be participating in the 10-day programme, media convenor of UP Congress Lalan Kumar said, PTI reported.

The districts where the campaign will be started include, Saharanpur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Bijnor, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Budaun, Bareilly, Rampur, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheir, Sitapur and Hardoi.

The Congress party has been attacking the Centre over the farm laws and has extended support to the farmers’ agitating against the new farm laws since last November.

With the launch of its campaign, the Congress is also seeking to make inroads in the state which will go to polls next year.

During her visit, Gandhi is also scheduled to offer prayers at Shakumbhra Devi Temple. She is also expected to meet farmers in Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar districts on February 13.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at several border points of the national capital for over two months, demanding repeal of three agriculture laws.

The Centre held several rounds of formal talks with the representatives of farmers to resolve the issue over the farm laws, but failed to achieve any concrete solution with the unions sticking to their main demand for the repeal of the legislations.

At the 11th round of talks last month, the Centre urged farmers to reconsider their offer of putting the three farm laws on hold for 1-1.5 years, but the farmers turned down their proposal. A decision on the next round of talks with farmers has not been taken yet.