Chandigarh, April 25
The SAD seems to have finally got a kisan issue to take on the Centre. Its core committee today deciding to launch a movement against the proposed wealth tax on farmers. It has called an emergency session of the Vidhan Sabha besides deciding to hold dharnas. It has also decided to meet the Prime Minister to demand “justice” for the state’s peasantry.

The proposed wealth tax will be levied on farmers whose land falls within eight kilometres of the municipal or corporations in the country. SAD claimed that, once implemented, every farmer within the prescribed limits would have to pay an annual tax ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 70,000 per acre.

Even as SAD swung into action to fight for farmers, the top leadership of the Punjab Congress rushed to Delhi to meet Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and demand that the proposed tax be withdrawn to safeguard the interests of the peasantry.

At the SAD core committee meeting, party president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that the party would launch a “do or die” battle to ensure that the interests of the farmers are not jeopardised. The party has decided to take a number of steps to thwart the “extremely alarming consequences” which would arise if the move was allowed to succeed.

These include convening an emergency session of the Vidhan Sabha which has been scheduled for May 3. A special meeting of the Cabinet has been called for tomorrow. Party sources said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will “camp” in Delhi from April 30 to May 3 during the course of which he would call upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demand withdrawal of the proposal.

The Core Committee also decided that the party and its alliance partner BJP would hold statewide dharnas at district headquarters on May 2.

A resolution passed at the emergency core committee meeting described the centre's move to slap wealth tax on agriculture lands as “dangerous and fatal for peasantry and debilitating for national economy.”

Meanwhile, PCC president Partap Singh Bajwa met Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram along with union ministers Preneet Kaur and Manish Tewari and MPs Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Ravneet Singh Bittu to apprise him of the possible political ramifications of the move.

When asked about the steps SAD was taking, PCC president said SAD was trying to launch a “vilification campaign” as it had been put on the back foot on various issues.

Bajwa said there might be some “mischief” behind the issuance of tax notices to farmers in Jalandhar as the proposal was yet to be taken up by Parliament. He said the finance minister had assured him that he would get the “notices” probed.