Govt bows to Rahul; to pay more for sugarcane

SWEET AND SUBSTANCE: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi gets his wish on sugarcane procurement prices.

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New Delhi: The Central government on Thursday decided to pay farmers more for their sugarcane after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi met the Prime Minister in the evening.

Gandhi met Manmohan Singh to discuss farmers’ concern about a government ordinance that fixed the procurement price for sugarcane at Rs 130 per quintal. Singh assured him that the ordinance would be amended in the interest of the farmers.

The ordinance said if a state wanted to pay more than the Centre's price, that state’s government would have to bear the burden of the extra money.

Opposition parties and hundreds of farmers on Thursday held protests in New Delhi against the ordinance, but the government appears to have saved face by crediting Gandhi for the decision to raise procurement prices.

Gandhi refused to comment on what he had discussed with the Prime Minister. "I had a private conversation with the Prime Minister. I keep meeting him regularly", said the Congress general secretary after the meeting in Parliament House.

Earlier on Thursday, the Prime Minister held an emergency meeting on the issue with senior cabinet colleagues.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Home Minister P Chidambaram attended the meeting at Parliament House.