Cong hit by internal discord, its leadership irrelevant: Tomar on Punjab

Indore, Sep 20 (PTI) Taking a swipe at Congress for replacing Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls, Union Minister and BJP MP Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday said the Grand Old Party is suffering from "internal rifts" and its leadership has become irrelevant.

“The Congress is suffering from internal discord and the party's leadership has become 'aprasangik' (irrelevant) now. Its effects are visible in Punjab and other states of the country,” Tomar told reporters.

When asked if Amarinder Singh is joining the BJP, Tomar smiled and remained silent.

Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi was on Monday sworn in as chief minister of Punjab, two days after Amarinder Singh put in his papers following a bitter power tussle in the Punjab Congress unit.

Tomar is in Indore to take part in a family function of BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya.

He evaded a direct reply when asked about the likely impact of the change of guard in Punjab on the ongoing protests by farmers at the Delhi borders against the new farm laws.

He said the Central government is committed to the cause of cultivators and has taken "historic" decisions under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their welfare which resulted in the income of farmers getting doubled. Tomar claimed the entire nation is standing in support of the new farm laws.

“As far as a few farmers unions are concerned, we have held 11 rounds of discussions with them. As they don't like our proposal, we have asked them to come with some other proposal for deliberations. We are ready to talk with them on any new proposal,” the Union minister said.

Queried on RSS affiliate Bharatiya Kisan Sangh's (BKS) demand to give profitable value to farm produce based on input costs, Tomar said the Modi government has raised the MSP (Minimum Support Price) 1.5 times and even the purchasing of agricultural produce by the government has gone up. PTI HWP MAS NSK NSK