By Navneet Mishra

New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS): After the 11th round of talks between the government and the farmer leaders at the Vigyan Bhawan on Friday remained inconclusive, Union Agriculture Minister accused the latter of not following the principles of discussion as he said that when the two parties are negotiating on an issue, one should avoid announcing new protests to create pressure as it affects the discussions.

Miffed with the failure of the 11th round of talks, Tomar said the government shared the best proposal so far to the farmer leaders but they are adamant that the farm laws should be repealed.

Tomar has clearly told the farmer leaders that "if the government has taken a step back and proposed to hold the three laws for one-and-a-half years, it doesn't mean that there is any flaw in the laws. The government took the decision to show respect towards the farmers".

The 11th round of talks started at 1 p.m. on Friday in the presence of Tomar, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash. However, the meeting lasted only till lunch and ended without a solution.

Refuting the allegations that the government is not sensitive towards the demands of the farmers, Tomar said, "We have been sensitive towards the farmers ever since they started the protest and this is the reason we have been conducting regular talks with them for the past two months. They could have ended the protest after we assured them that we will hold the laws for one-and-a-half years as this was the best possible solution."

"We have also told the farmers' unions that if they agree on the proposals given to them in the last 10 rounds of talks, we can continue the discussion," he added.