RJD to confront Centre on paddy procurement

By Our Special Correspondent

PATNA, DEC. 25. The Rashtriya Janata Dal has decided to directly confront the NDA Government at the Centre over the procurement of paddy with prices crashing to the distress of farmers.

The State Government and the Union Government have been trading charges, each holding the other responsible for the farmers' plight in the State.

The Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, air-dashed to stage a dharna in an obvious bid to counter the RJD's campaign against the Central Government for not setting up procurement centres and making the farmers dispose of their paddy at throwaway prices.

Mr. Kumar went to the extent of demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, Mrs. Rabri Devi, for failing to provide the required infrastructure for the FCI to buy paddy from the farmers. He also charged that the State Government had not cared to respond to their repeated reminders to come out with a clear proposal to transport paddy from the purchase centres.

With the situation turning explosive and to prevent the RJD president, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, from running away with the advantage through his agitational programme, Mr. Kumar sought to put up a brave face saying he would follow the former to counter what he described as his misinformation campaign against the Centre.Mr. Kumar said the Central Government has decided to relax the norms for procurement of paddy in Bihar as had been done in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. According to him the FCI intended to open a centre each in the 37 districts of the State besides setting up 512 procurement points for the cooperatives.

With Mr. Kumar joining issues, the RJD was not far behind with its retaliatory measures. The Health Minister, Mr. Shakuni Chaudhary, warned that the RJD workers and farmers in general were maintaining restraint only because of their leader. He said that should they get the right signals the farmers and the RJD workers would gherao Central Ministers and officers to protest the step-motherly treatment over the procurement issue by the Central Government.

Mr. Chaudhary said the agitational programme announced by their supremo would be adhered to but added that they would not sit silent if things did not improve immediately.Significantly this confrontation comes amidst the infighting within the RJD which has hit the streets. The differences which were under the carpet for long between the RJD president and its working president, Dr. Ranjan Prasad Yadav, came to the fore at a meeting in Jainagar in Madhubani district yesterday.

The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Om Prakash Chautala, greeting the Prime Minister, Mr. Vajpayee, in Delhi on Monday, the latter's birthday.

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