Ayyakannu drops ‘111 plan’ after assurance from Shah

The volte face by the group came after the BJP president Amit Shah promised to fulfil their demands.

“It is true that when we were protesting to highlight our demands in the national capital, neither the Prime Minister nor any Minister from his cabinet did not even allot time for an audience. But now, the BJP president himself spoke and assured to fulfil our demands. With the BJP, including a few of our demands in its election manifesto, we see a ray of hope and have decided to withdraw 111-candidate plan,” Ayyakannu, told DT Next.

Ayyakannu, who led a series of protest in Delhi, was reported by several leaders after he announced the decision to field 111 candidates against the PM. “We sent a copy of the resolution of our meeting held on March 12 to both the BJP and Congressleadership. The saffron party responded on Sunday and we hope our demands will be met or considered,” he said.

Ayyakannu was given an audience with Amit Shah late on Sunday night. The BJP president promised to get a reasonable price for agriculture produces, individual insurance, pension for farmers aged 60 years and above, interest-free loans and a nominated member for farming community and a commission for linking of rivers. “This is the first round of victory for our protests”, Ayyakannu said.

However, there was no mention about their prime demand of loan waiver in the NDA leader’s manifesto. To this, Ayyakannu said that the farmers would continue to fight for it.

Meanwhile, the state council meeting of the association is set to be convened on Wednesday (April 10) in Tiruchy, which would discuss the next course of action. “If the promises were not fulfilled, we would intensify our protest further,” Ayyakannu stressed.