Rakesh Tikait to hold 3 farmers' rallies in MP between March 8 to 15

New Delhi: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Singh Tikait will address three rallies in Madhya Pradesh from Monday to drum up support for his protest against the Centre's three agri marketing laws, a functionary of his outfit said.

The rallies will be held in Sheopur on Monday, in Rewa on March 14 and in Jabalpur the next day, and a decision would be taken later on holding more rallies in the state, said BKU MP general secretary Anil Yadav.

Yadav told PTI Tikait will be touring MP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Telangana to interact with farmers and widen the protests against the Centre's new laws.

Incidentally, there is an arrest warrant pending against Tikait in connection with a 2012 attempt to murder and rioting case in the state's Anuppur district, said police officials.

Tikait had led a BKU protest against a power plant in Jaithari area, which turned violent, leading to injuries to policemen and torching of vehicles, they added.

Over 100 people, including Tikait, were arrested under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with armed weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, an official said.

"However, after being released on bail in 2012, Tikait failed to appear before court for subsequent hearings, after which an arrest warrant was issued against him in 2016. We will take necessary action on the arrest warrant," Anuppur Superintendent of Police Mangilal Solanki said.