Hyderabad/New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants the monsoon session of parliament to be advanced to debate and pass the food security and land acquisition bills with some amendments.
BJP president Rajnath Singh told reporters in Hyderabad that the party was ready for debate on both the bills. “We want the bills to be passed with some amendments,” he said.
Voicing concern over the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s plan to bring ordinances to enact the legislation, he said the “government should not play a cruel joke on the people”.
Referring to the proposal to convene a special session of parliament to pass the bills, the BJP chief said the monsoon session should be advanced.
Responding to party leader Yashwant Sinha describing the Food Security Bill as a “disaster” and an “assault on the federal system of India”, Rajnath Singh said the bill should be debated and passed with certain amendments.
In Delhi, BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the party was prepared to support the Food Security Bill after a debate in parliament.
He said the government should not promulgate an ordinance on the bill.
He said the Congress’s ally Nationalist Congress Party had expressed reservations over aspects of the bill.
Rudy said the bill should be debated to ensure that the government does not bring it only to earn brownie points.
Rudy claimed that some of flagship programmes of the government, including the national rural employment guarantee scheme, had failed to meet their stated objectives.
“The government should not betray people again to get political brownie points (through the bill). We do not want the bill to be passed without debate. There should not be an ordinance. If the government is in a hurry, it can call session of parliament this month,” Rudy said.
Rajnath Singh took exception to the government’s allegation that the BJP was stalling parliament and said it was the government’s responsibility to run parliament smoothly.
“Had the ministers for railways and law resigned when the BJP demanded it during the budget session, the food security and land acquisition bills would have been passed,” he said. “Why did the two ministers resign later if our demand was not justified?” he asked.
The BJP chief accused the UPA government of failure on all fronts and wondered why it was celebrating completion of its nine-year rule.
He alleged that the Congress party was politicising even the Maoist attack on its leaders in Chhattisgarh by holding the state’s BJP government responsible. “The state government is responsible for law and order and not Maoist activity, which is a national problem,” he said.
Rajnath Singh, who is in Hyderabad to address a public meeting on Telangana Monday evening, said the BJP would ensure formation of a Telangana state within a year if voted to power in New Delhi. Claiming that the party delivered whatever it promised, he said it had carved out three states in north India to fulfill its promise.
He accused the Congress of repeatedly betraying the people of Telangana by going back on its word for formation of a separate state.
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