No question of deputing police officers to negotiate with protesting farmers, says Punjab CM

Rejecting the allegations by the opposition parties, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said there was no question of deputing police officers to negotiate with farmers protesting at the Delhi border.

Amarinder Singh said in a statement that the Punjab government having no role to play in the negotiations with farmers, the Chief Minister refuted the charges being made by Akali and AAP leaders.

"Anyone who believes that a couple of police officers can negotiate with the farmers or persuade the Kisan leaders to accept the Centre's suggestions on amendments to the farm laws is really naive," the Chief Minister remarked.

Captain Amarinder accused both Sukhbir Singh Badal and Arvind Kejriwal, as well as their party colleagues, of resorting to lies and deceit "in their desperation to cover up their own failures in the entire crisis triggered by the farm laws."

Pointing to Sukhbir's claim that the resolutions passed in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha against the three farm bills had not been sent to the Governor, he quipped that the Shirom Akali Dal (SAD) president had clearly lost it.

"Or perhaps he is suffering from serious amnesia since his party colleagues, including his own brother-in-law Bikram Majithia, had accomped me to the Governor's House for submitting the resolution and the three State Amendment Bills," remarked the Chief Minister.

( With inputs from ANI )