Amarinder Singh to meet Shah ahead of crucial talks between Centre and farmers on Thursday

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Dec 02: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will meet Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence on Thursday, ahead of the talks between the Centre and farmer leaders over their agitation against the new farm laws.

Sources said that Singh will hold deliberations with Shah on Thursday morning in Delhi in an effort to work out an amicable solution to the deadlock. The Punjab chief minister has been supporting the farmers' stir and the state Assembly had also passed a set of laws aimed at negating the Centre's farm legislation.

Singh had said that he and his government were willing to mediate in the talks between the Centre and the farmers in the collective interest of all.

The protesting farmers, a large number of whom are from Punjab, have been holding sit-ins for seven days on the borders of the national capital. They are demanding that the government withdraw the new farm laws if it wants them to end their stir. The farmer leaders and the central government are set to hold another round of discussions on Thursday after a meeting on Tuesday was inconclusive.

Farmer unions claim the new laws will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving farmers to the mercy of corporate houses. But the government says the system will continue and the laws will give farmers more options to sell their crops.