Ahead of the Budget Session next week, the Congress on Friday indicated that it would not readily allow the passage of crucial Bills, including the Ordinances in Parliament. Senior Congress leader Ahmad Patel, who is Political Secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said it would be “bizarre” for the Narendra Modi Government to expect support from the party after it has diluted UPA’s policies and programmes including the land Acquisition Bill.
The Government needs to get crucial Bills passed in the Budget Session to replace Ordinances it has promulgated. These Ordinances, including those on the insurance sector, land acquisition, and coal block allocations, will lapse and will have to be re-promulgated in the absence of parliamentary passage for the legislation.
“It’s bizarre for Government to be expecting support from Congress after it has diluted UPA’s policies & programmes for needy,” Patel, who is member in Rajya Sabha, said on Twitter. The statement is significant as it comes ahead of the Budget Session during which the Government has lined up several Bills for consideration and passage including controversial Ordinance on land acquisition.
“It is very clear that the changes through the Ordinances are not acceptable to us. Obviously we are going to oppose... They are not in the interest of people,” party spokesman Ajoy Kumar said at the AICC briefing. He noted that the party line has already been made clear by senior leader Ahmed Patel.
The Congress on Friday also announced said that it would hold a dharna which would be attended by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and could be joined by social activist Anna Hazare on February 25 in the national Capital.
If Hazare joins the agitation with the Congress, the Aam Admi Party (AAP), which came to power in Delhi with a landslide victory recently, too may join the Gandhian in the agitation alongwith other Opposition parties including TMC and the Janata Parivar.
The Congress is vehemently opposed to the controversial Ordinance on the land Acquisition Bill as also a number of other parties including the JD(U) and the left. The Congress has also been accusing the Government of drastically curtailing the allocation to the MGNREGA, UPA’s flagship rural employment programme.
Anna Hazare, along with farmers’ bodies, is also scheduled to hold a two-day protest against the Ordinance from Monday and may join Congress on the issue. “Hazare can join our agitation,” AICC spokesman Ajoy Kumar said, when asked whether the party would participate in the Gandhian’s protest at the same venue on February 23, the opening day of the Budget Session of Parliament.
“Anna has always maintained that he does not share any platform with any political party. Till now he has said that Aam Aadmi Party volunteers supporting his cause are welcome to join him. But he has to specifically say if we can join him. If he permits us then we will certainly join. By heart, we are with Anna,” party spokesperson Dilip Pandey said to the media. The AAP is also opposing the “anti-farmers” amendments made in the land Acquisition Act in December and it will take protests in Haryana and other States too in future.
Senior Congress leader and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh will address a Kisaan Mahapanchayat on Sunday in Chauroli village of Gautambudh Nagar district. Party leaders have been saying so far that the Congress will take up the issues concerning the farmers of the country and “we will welcome any social organisation or any individual joining the Congress in such endeavours.”