Chhattisgarh BJP leaders should go and sell paddy at Rs 2,500 per quintal in any part of the country and in the private market, Congress leader Girish Dewangan said on Thursday, ahead of the opposition party’s planned protests on the issue of farmers.

Addressing the media, he said the BJP agitation in the name of farmers “is a farce” and added that most BJP leaders have sold their paddy in the primary societies in their respective districts and received money for it.

Releasing a list of 575 BJP leaders who sold paddy in the procurement centres, he said none of them went to the private agriculture produce market. They did not also go out of the state to sell their produce in another state.

Alleging that more farmers had committed suicide in the last 15 years of BJP rule, Devangan asked its leaders to go to Delhi and support the protesting farmers “if they are really concerned about farmers”.

Dewangan, the Chhattisgarh Congress Vice President, said all necessary arrangements had been made to procure the remaining paddy and the shortage of gunny sacks has been filled through different sources.

He said that in the current Kharif season, 21.48 lakh farmers had registered for paddy sale, which is 1.93 lakh farmers more over last year. Till date, from 19.02 lakh farmers around 81.05 lakh tonnes of paddy had been bought for Rs 13,849 crores.