Oppn tries to scuttle govt bid to salvage Bill

There seems to be no end to the logjam over the land bill in near future. The NDA government efforts to reach out to regional parties for securing their support for the controversial land Bill on Sunday was met with a counter move from the Opposition ranks.

Congress on Sunday asked Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to “demonstrate” its commitment to farmers by opposing the legislation in Rajya Sabha though it had backed it in Lok Sabha. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters in Chennai that the BJP’s controversial Land Acquisition Act was “dictatorial” in nature as it was brought in through an ordinance without discussion and had done away with many of the pro-farmer provisions made in a similar Act brought in by the Congress-led UPA in 2013. 

BJP’s principal opponent in Bihar, which goes to polls for state assembly later this year, JD(U) on Sunday said that no member of the Janata Parivar would support the proposed law in its present form. The party also questioned the government’s intention behind proroguing the session of Rajya Sabha and wondered what was the “tearing hurry” for doing so?

JD(U) general secretary KC Tyagi said that the constituents of the erstwhile Janata Parivar have decided to chalk out an agitation plan from the village-level to the national capital against the Bill, “If need be, we will also disrupt Parliament. The plans will be announced in a couple of days,” he said.