New Delhi: Adding to the government’s troubles over the Land Acquisition Bill, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Thursday, came out openly against the bill in Parliament.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, the BSP supremo demanded that the government withdraw the bill and revert to the farmer-friendly law passed by the Parliament in 2013.
With BSP also standing firmly against the bill, the Modi government may find it impossible to push its reform agenda in absence of a majority in Rajya Sabha.
To salvage its Land Acquisition Bill from being defeated or being sent to select committee, when it comes in Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Tuesday, offered to leave the discretion in the hands of the state governments to implement or reject the exemption from clause for certain acquisitions.
The government softened its stand hours before leaders of 14 political parties, led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, marched from the Parliament House to petition the President to intervene in the interest of farmers and prevent the government from going ahead with amendments in the 2013 law.
Interestingly, BSP was not part of the all party protest against land bill. “We are not against the agenda of protest but we are not joining this protest out of the party's interest," Mayawati had said.
"We are not joining this protest because it is headed by Sonia Gandhi and this can lead to a political backlash in our state," she said.
