Congress MPs, former Akali leader walk out from house panel meeting on agri

Congress MPs Partap Singh Bajwa and Chhaya Verma and former Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Monday staged a walkout from a meeting of the Standing Committee on Agriculture after the panel chairman refused to discuss Centre's three farm laws and their aftermath, sources said.

Citing the large-scale protests undertaken by various farmer unions that have seen thousands of farmers protest at the borders of Delhi for over 40 days, the three Rajya Sabha MPs raised the issue with the chairman of the standing committee.

Due to the refusal of the chairman to allow the situation to be discussed by the committee, the three MPs decided to walk out of the meeting in protest, the sources said.

The panel is chaired by BJP MP P C Gaddigoudar.

The meeting held at the Parliament annexe building was to take note of the evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying) in connection with the examination of the Subject "Status of Veterinary Services and Availability of Animal Vaccine in the Country".