Joint delegation of oppn parties to meet President Kovind over farm laws on Dec 9

New Delhi [India], December 8 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday said a joint delegation of opposition parties which will include Congress, CPI, DMK apart from his party will meet President Ram Nath Kovind on December 9 regarding the recently promulgated central farm laws.
"A joint delegation of Opposition parties will meet President Kovind tomorrow at 5 pm. The delegation will include Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, a DMK leader and a CPI leader and others" Yechury told ANI.
"Rashtrapati Bhawan has said that due to COVID-19 protocol, not more than five leaders are allowed to meet the President. We have asked for relaxation in the norms for all the representatives of the 11 signatories on the letter against these laws," he added.
On being asked on Sharad Pawar's letter regarding improvements in the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), Yechury said, "Sharad Pawar had written letters to the chief ministers of the states for consultation on APMCs. The BJP government put all the points aside and brought the farm bills in a one-sided way."
"In the parliamentary traditions of India, whenever the opposition raises a point, the government conducts a debate and responds. But this government is working in an autocratic manner. This is wrong," he added.
On being asked about blockades imposed by the left parties on road and rail transport in Odisha, West Bengal and Maharashtra, Yechury said, "It was declared earlier that today there will be a Bharat bandh. Pune is entirely closed. Wherever there is a BJP government, a lot of arrests have been made of our cadre."
Opposition parties, including Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), Shiv Sena and National Congress Party (NCP) also supported the call for 'Bharat Bandh'. (ANI)