13 farmer leaders leave Singhu border to meet Amit Shah

New Delhi: A delegation of 13 farmer leaders have left the Singhu border, one of the protest sites of the farmers on the outskirts of the national capital, to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence on Tuesday evening.

The meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m. on at Shah's 6A, Krishna Menon Marg residence.

Noting that this movement is under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) President Gurnam Singh Chathuni said in a press briefing at Singh border that the Home Minister contacted the farmers' unions earlier in the day and invited them for the meeting.

Referring to Tuesday's Bharat Bandh, Chathuni said that the government should understand that the whole nation joined the call given by the farmers.

BKU leader Bhog Singh Maansa said that all the producers and consumers are with them, saying "the delegation meeting with the Home Minister this evening will decide the future plan".

The national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait, earlier made the announcement about the farmers' unions' meeting with Shah.

The BKU leader made the announcement amid the ongoing Bharat Bandh call being given by the protesting farmers. It is learnt that Tikait, who represents a group of farmers from Wester Uttar Pradesh, received the invite from the government.

The meeting will be significant ahead of the sixth round of government-farmers talks scheduled on Wednesday at the Vigyan Bhawan in Central Delhi. Earlier, five rounds of talks remained inconclusive with the two sides sticking to their points. One of the farmers' demands was to meet Shah to resolve their issues.

"We have a meeting with the Home Minister at 7 p.m. today. We are going to Singhu border now and from there we will go to meet the Home Minister," Tikait said.

Tikait is sitting on protest at the Ghazipur border on Delhi-UP route in support of thousands of farmers staging demonstration against the Central government since November 26, demanding to repeal the three farm laws enacted in September during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

Tikait, Gurnam Singh, Hanan Mullah, Balveer Singh Rajewal, Manjeet Singh, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Darhsan Pal, Bog Singh Mansa, Jagjeet Singh Dalewal, Rurdu Singh Maan, Baljeet Rai, Boota Singh and Harvinder Singh Lakhowal are among the farmer leaders from Punjab, West Bengal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh who will meet Shah.