lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Apr 17, 2019 10:08 IST

After meeting BJP president Amit Shah, who met five of their six demands, the 111 farmers of Tamil Nadu who decided to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have cancelled their plans, said National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association Tamil Nadu president P Ayyakkanu.

Speaking over the phone Ayyakkanu said, “We called on BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi on April 7. We submitted a memorandum comprising our six demands, including interlinking of rivers, profitable price of produce to famers, writing off loans of farmers from nationalised bank until they get profitable price of their produce, no import of genetically modified seeds and food from foreign countries, and Rs 5,000 monthly pension for each farmer above 60 years, even if they have son, daughter and land.

“We also told them that they should not differentiate between small, marginal and big farmers because if there is drought, or a flood, all farmers would be affected equally.

“Excluding writing off the loans, the BJP president accepted all the demands and assured of looking into them seriously. Therefore, we have decided not to contest election against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi,” he said. He said that they demanded that farmers be given interest-free loan up to Rs 5 lakh. The BJP president assured of the looking into the demand seriously.

He said that the farmers had got their train tickets booked to reach in Varanasi on April 24. But they have cancelled their tickets.

Now they will visit the city in June to offer prayers to Baba Kashi Vishwanath to solve their problems.