Manmohan’s men disagree on Rahul’s pet land bill
30 Aug 2012 3:54 AM IST
The Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's pet land reform bill, which has been also fervently backed by the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council, was discussed during the meeting of the union cabinet on Tuesday, and after facing stiff opposition from five cabinet ministers, it has been referred to a group of ministers (GoM) for fine tuning.
The West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee during her visit to the national capital last week had expressed reservation about the bill in the present form. However, the party's representative railway minister Mukul Roy was not present at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The bill has been rechristened as The Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill.
Sources in the rural development ministry told Millennium Post, 'The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha last year in September, and after that it was sent to the Standing Committee, headed by the senior BJP MP Sumitra Mahajan, which made certain recommendations. Some of the suggestions were accepted by the ministry while some were rejected. After making the changes the bill was again brought before the cabinet on Tuesday, when five cabinet ministers opposed it.'
Interestingly, the rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, according to a source, 'is of the view that if the GoM is headed by the defence minister A K Antony, then the bill will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, but if it is headed either by Sharad Pawar or P Chidambaram, then it will be definitely doomed.'
The urban development minister Kamal Nath, the civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, the commerce minister Anand Sharma, the corporate affairs minister Veerappa Moily and the transport minister C P Joshi opposed the bill in the current form.
The West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee during her visit to the national capital last week had expressed reservation about the bill in the present form. However, the party's representative railway minister Mukul Roy was not present at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The bill has been rechristened as The Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill.
Sources in the rural development ministry told Millennium Post, 'The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha last year in September, and after that it was sent to the Standing Committee, headed by the senior BJP MP Sumitra Mahajan, which made certain recommendations. Some of the suggestions were accepted by the ministry while some were rejected. After making the changes the bill was again brought before the cabinet on Tuesday, when five cabinet ministers opposed it.'
Interestingly, the rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, according to a source, 'is of the view that if the GoM is headed by the defence minister A K Antony, then the bill will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, but if it is headed either by Sharad Pawar or P Chidambaram, then it will be definitely doomed.'
The urban development minister Kamal Nath, the civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, the commerce minister Anand Sharma, the corporate affairs minister Veerappa Moily and the transport minister C P Joshi opposed the bill in the current form.
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