New Dekhi, November 30: To break the impasse over the recently-enacted farm reform laws, the Centre on Monday issued an invite to the protesting farmers. The union leaders involved in the agitation were called for talks at the Vigyan Bhavan, at 3 pm tomorrow. BJP Ally in Rajasthan, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, Threatens to Quit NDA If Farm Laws Not Withdrawn.

The Centre cited the prevalence of COVID-19, along with onset of winter as the reason behind preponing the meeting scheduled on December 3 by two days. This would be the third round of talks involving the protesting farmers -- the first two failing to find a breakthrough.

"When Farm laws were brought, they caused some misconception among farmers. We held two rounds of talks with farmer leaders - on October 14 and November 13. At that time too we had urged them to not go for agitation and that the govt is ready for talks," said Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

"It was decided that next round of talks will be held on Dec 3 but farmers are agitating, it's winter and there's COVID. So meeting should be held earlier. So farmer leaders - present in 1st round of talks - have been invited at Vigyan Bhawan on December 1 at 3 pm," he added.

The three laws, that were passed by the Parliament in September-end, allow farmers to bypass the mandis and directly sell their produce to private players. The protesters have alleged a ploy, claiming that the Bills intend to dismantle the procurement system through APMCs, thereby diluting the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) regime.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 30, 2020 11:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).