One had been doing this to remain in power and the other, to serve the interests of his clan by associating with the anti-farmer BJP-led coalition government at the Centre. He said that both had lost the confidence of the farmers.

Surjewala was mobilising Congress workers at the Congress Bhawan here to to participate in the July 27 hunger strike in Chandigarh to protest against the suicides by the farmers in Haryana.

Surjewala alleged that at least 20,000 farmers, most of them young, had killed themselves. There was a spurt in the suicides after Chief Minister Bansi Lal assumed power two years back, he said. That was when harassment and humiliation started for recovering loans after large-scale damage to crops, he said.

Instead of sympathising with the farmers who had suffered huge losses, the government put them in civil lock-ups for not paying loans which was beyond their capacity, the KKS president said. He said interest on loans should not be more than six per cent. He demanded that farmers whose crops perished during the last two years be given compensated adequately.