Principal Opposition BJP is in favour of passing the Food Security Bill with some amendments, party president Rajnath Singh said on Monday. He asked the Government to advance the Monsoon Session of Parliament for the purpose.
“We are ready for a debate on Food Security and land Acquisition Bills. We want these Bills passed with some amendments and the Monsoon Session should be advanced for this,” he told reporters. He said it would be a cruel joke if an Ordinance is issued on the proposed Food Security Bill.
Dismissing the allegations of the Congress that the BJP is not letting Parliament function smoothly, Singh said the primary responsibility to ensure the smooth functioning of Parliament lay with the Government.
Observing that BJP's role is like that of a watchdog, he said BJP was playing the role of principal Opposition party effectively.
However, States like Bihar and West Bengal with sizeable number of BPl population have shown concern about the financial implications of the proposed legislation on their resources. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the ‘unjust manner’ in which the Government was trying to politicise the issue.
"We have been emphasising that the entire financial burden for development of infrastructure, storage facility, etc, must be borne entirely by the Government of India. Also, any shortfall of allocation of foodgrains to the State should be made over and protected by the Central Government through additional allocation," Banerjee wrote on Facebook.
She even argued that proposed cash transfer in lieu of foodgrains will be of no use as banking infrastructure facilities were not available in remote areas, where the poorest and the tribals live. "These promises are nothing but political gimmick," she claimed, demanding that State be made the implementation agency.
Her Bihar counterpart, Nitish Kumar, supported the Bill in principle, but also asked Centre to bear the additional financial burden on account of it when it is implemented. He dismissed speculation that the Food Security Bill would earn votes for Congress in the 2014 general elections as MNREGA did for the party in the 2009 polls.
"The legislation is being brought by the Congress in the last year of UPA II. It will not pay any political dividend to them (UPA) in the 2014 elections," Kumar said in Patna. The Chief Minister said Bihar had suggested to the Centre that the proposed Food Security Commission should have seven members out of which five should be from rural background instead of urban elites, besides from minorities and OBC sections too. Besides, there should be two women members in the proposed commission.