Overview
- The agitation entered a seventh day and spread across Belagavi, Bagalkote, Haveri, Chikkodi, Gadag and other districts, with road blockades reported and farmer groups setting a one-day deadline.
- Minister H K Patil met protesters at Gurlapur Cross but talks ended without a breakthrough, and farmers refused to travel to Bengaluru unless a higher price was announced.
- Chief Minister Siddaramaiah scheduled meetings on Friday with sugar factory owners at 11 a.m. and farmer leaders at 1 p.m., said FRP is decided by the Centre, and said he would seek an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The CM cited a Centre-fixed rate calculation at about Rs 3,550 per tonne at 10.25% recovery including harvest and transport, while local officials conveyed factory offers of Rs 3,100–3,200 per tonne excluding those costs.
- Ministers pledged cabinet-level action, stricter enforcement of timely payments, and digital weighbridges, as Union Minister Pralhad Joshi urged the state to negotiate and noted the FRP at Rs 350 per quintal with plans to permit roughly 15 lakh tonnes of sugar exports.