The Shiromani Akali Dal's Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, hours ahead of the voting in Lok Sabha on two contentious farm sector bills the party has been opposing.

While making the announcement in Parliament on Thursday, her husband and party chief Sukhbir Badal said the Akalis would continue to support the government and BJP but would oppose the "anti-farmer politics" of the BJP government, NDTV.com reported.

The bills, which the BJP claims will usher in big-ticket reforms in the agriculture sector, have angered farmers of Punjab and Haryana, who have been holding protests for weeks.

The Akalis, who initially supported the bills, have now woken up to the potential damage it might cause them in the state and appealed to the Centre to press pause on the issue till the concerns of the farmers were addressed.

But with the BJP remaining adamant, the party decided to withdraw their support to the bills and vote against them in Parliament.

Earlier, while moving for consideration The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, in the Lok Sabha, Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the legislations were aimed at making farming profitable.

Tomar said the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism for farmers would continue and that the mechanism would not be impacted by two proposed legislations.

Further, he assured the House that the proposed legislations would not encroach upon the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts of the states. "These two bills will ensure that farmers get better prices for their produce. They will not be subject to the regulations of mandis and they will be free to sell their produce to anyone. They will also not have to pay any taxes.

"These bills will increase competition and promote private investment which will help in development of farm infrastructure and generate employment," Tomar said.

The minister noted that because of these two reform bills farmers will be able to connect directly with big business and exporters, and will be able to make farming profitable.

Initiating the debate on the bills, Congress member Ravneet Singh demanded that the bills be withdrawn. He also said that Punjab collects about Rs 3,630 crore from mandis, which are used for welfare activities for farmers and creation of rural infrastructure like roads.

He also wondered why the Centre was interfering when agriculture was in the concurrent list. “There are state assemblies... you want to snatch away the powers of states," Singh said, adding that the meaning of having "absolute" or "golden" majority does not mean that the centre would take all the power.

He asked how small farmers would be able to resolve disputes with big corporates and claimed that the laws will "finish farmers".

Singh said that farmers of north India should join hands on the issue as he urged the government to withdraw the bills.

RSP leader N.K. Premachandran demanded that the bills be sent to the standing committee and that there was no justification for promulgation of an ordinance.

"What is the urgency in promulgating the ordinance?," he questioned.

He also alleged that the ordinances were passed to bulldoze the farmers' interests while taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic. “All the ordinances are aimed at facilitating the interests of corporates,” he said.