File photo of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will sit on fast on Saturday for “restoration of peace” and has invited farmers on protest for an “amicable dialogue”. Chouhan said he will work from the Dussehra Maidan where he invited farmers for talks.
“I will sit on indefinite fast from 11 am tomorrow at Dussehra Maidan for restoration of peace,” a visibly upset Chouhan said at a hurriedly convened press conference at his official residence on Friday evening.
“I will be available at the Dussehra Maidan. I welcome all farmers to come there for resolving the impasse peacefully through an amicable dialogue with me. I won’t sit in my office at Mantralaya (secretariat)… (but sit at) Dussehra Maidan and do all work from there,” he added.
However, he categorically said that all unruly elements would be dealt with strictly.
“I am deeply saddened that stones are being placed in the hands of young people aged 18, 21 and 22 by some persons during attempts to stage road blockades. It is painful that these young people are our own and the elements leading them are also our own,” he said.
“I appeal to the people, farmers to come to the negotiating table,” he said.
The CM said that the agitation has gone “anarchic” and anyone trying to ignite the flames of violence would not be spared.
The Congress has demanded Chouhan’s resignation over the deaths of six farmers in Mandsaur in police firing. Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi dubbed the BJP governments at the Centre and state as “Band, Baaja, Bullet” regimes that responded to protesting farmers with bullets instead of providing them remunerative prices for their produce.
(With PTI inputs)