New Delhi: Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai on Monday met the protesting farmers from Tamil Nadu at Jantar Mantar here and assured them that he would help them raise their demands with Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharti.
The farmers have been staging a protest in the national capital for seven days. They are demanding a Rs-40,000 crore drought relief package from the Centre for Tamil Nadu, including loan waivers besides other reliefs.
"Demands of the farmers are synchronous to that of the Tamil Nadu government. So, we will get appointments and make them meet the Union Finance Minister and Water Resources Minister in a day or two," Thambidurai told reporters.
The AIADMK leader requested the farmers to call off their protest.
"It is worrying to see the farmers in such a situation. We told them to trust us in solving their issues and call off the protest," he said.
However, the farmers said that they won’t call off the protest until their demands were met.
"We have trust in the leaders of the state government. But, we are not willing to call off the protest until the Centre satisfies our demands, said Iyyakannu of the Desiya Thenninthiya Nathigal Inaippu Vivasayigal Sangam, who is leading the protest.
CPI National Secretary D Raja and CPI(M) MP T K Rangarajan too visited the farmers and offered their support.
