Congress today intensified its protest on the issue of compensating farmers affected by rain and hailstorm as the party MLAs continued to stage a sit-in in the well of Madhya Pradesh Assembly which began last evening.
The Congress party announced that seven of its MLAs would sit on a hunger strike from tomorrow in the House if its demands were not fulfilled.
"We have decided to continue with our ongoing sit-in agitation inside the well of the House on the issue of compensating farmers hit by rain, hail and thunderstorm, until our demands are not fulfilled," Leader of Opposition Satydev Katare told reporters.
"Besides, seven of our MLAs namely Jeetu Patwari, Shailendra Patel, Nilesh Awasthi, Sourabh Singh, Umang Singhar, Kamleshwar Patel and Girish Bhandari will observe a hunger strike," Katare, who was flanked by the MP Congress President Arun Yadav as well as senior MLAs Mukesh Nayak and Bala Bachchan, said.
When asked whether they had received any ultimatum from the government or Speaker Sitasharan Sharma to give up their protest, Katare replied in negative. However, he said that the Speaker had told them not to use the Vidhan Sabha, which is a neutral place, for their agitation.
Katare said that the Congress does not plan to give up its protest until its demands are fulfilled, adding that if the government has any problem with the demonstration, it should arrest the Congress MLAs and send them to jail.
The Congress has demanded that the BJP government must give Rs 150 per quintal bonus on the wheat crop, waive off loan recovery and interest as well as compensate farmers affected by rain, hail and thunderstorm during the last fortnight.
