Opposition provoking farmers: Mayawati

Lucknow, May 11: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati tonight launched a counter offensive against opposition parties accusing them of provoking the farmers of Bhatta Parsaul into violence and charged the Centre with doing nothing to bring a new law for land acquisition.

"There was total peace in Bhatta Parsaul. But the opposition parties are trying to spark a law and order problem by provoking the farmers of the area", Mayawati was quoted as saying by UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh.

She claimed the villagers of Bhatta Parsaul, the epicentre of the farmers' agitation against land acquisition by the state government, have made no demand and the situation there was "totally peaceful".

However, it was the opposition parties which had made the demand and created a law and order problem by provoking the farmers, Singh told a press conference shortly after midnight.

PTI