Lucknow, Dec 6 (PTI) Congress workers on Monday staged demonstrations all over Uttar Pradesh to protest the alleged shortage of fertilizer for farmers in the state. The Congress workers staged demonstrations in all UP districts, raising the slogan "khaad do varna UP chhodo" (give fertiliser or else leave UP), UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu said in a party statement here. There are long queues of farmers before fertilizer shops all over the state but they are not getting the vital ingredient for farming, Lallu alleged, adding they are forced to purchase fertiliser from the black market at higher rates. The input cost for farming has already gone up because of the rise in diesel prices, said Lallu, alleging that the shortage of fertilizer due to the misgovernance of the Yogi Adityanath government has further added to the farmers’ woes. Lallu also alleged that some farmers in the Bundelkhand region lost their lives standing in queues before fertilizer shops in October. A farmer had died while standing in a queue for two days at a fertiliser shop in the Jakhlaun area of the Lalitpur district, he recalled. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had later met families of four farmers, two of whom, she had claimed, committed suicide and two others died standing in a line for fertilisers. Lallu said the government which had promised to double farmers’ income should answer how the input cost of agricultural produce has gone up four times since 2017 and who is responsible for it. The Congress party has been supporting the ongoing farmers’ protest against the now-repealed three central agri laws and ahead of the upcoming UP assembly elections, it has begun raising their issues more actively. The Congress party had also claimed earlier that its workers had reached all households up to village level during their "Pratigya Yatra" on November 14 to highlight alleged farmers’ problems relating to fertilizers, diesel price rise and stray cattle. Farmers are facing immense hardships but Chief Minister Adityanath is busy addressing election rallies and laying foundation stones of fake projects, Lallu alleged. PTI SAB RAX RAX