As the Opposition closed ranks on Tuesday to oppose the land Bill, the NDA ally Shiv Sena too joined a meeting at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar to strategise the protest in and out of Parliament on the Bill.
The meeting was attended by Anandrao Adsul from Shiv Sena, members from the Congress, including KV Thomas, Kalyan Banerjee from Trinamool Congress, YSR Congress’ MP Vara Prasadarao Velagapalli and Md Salim from (CPI-M) among others.
While the main Opposition Congress on Tuesday submitted its list of amendments to the Joint Committee of Parliament on land Bill seeking withdrawal of changes in the Act and asking for uniform compensation, the CPI(M) will submit its recommendations in the next few days.
The parliamentary joint committee headed by BJP MP SS Ahluwalia on Monday decided to seek two more days till August 5 to submit its report. After clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill by the committee, the Government is likely to move a draft Bill before the panel on July 30. The members will discuss the draft and file their dissent notes, if any, by August 5.
In the meeting at Pawar's residence, Congress, Trinamool Congress and CPI-M said that they are for "total withdrawal" of the NDA's land Bill. Shiv Sena is not seeking total withdrawal of the NDA's Bill but has its reservations against the amendments, which removed provisions of consent clause and social impact survey from the Bill that existed in UPA's land law.
Sources in the Congress said that it had sought restoration of the consent of 80 per cent of land-owners to be obtained for private projects and that of 70 per cent for PPP ones.
The present Bill exempts five categories from this provision - defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors and infrastructure projects - including public-private partnership (PPP) projects where the Government owns the land.
The 2013 Act also required that a social impact assessment be conducted to identify affected families and calculate the impact when land is acquired. This provision has been done away with. The BJD and Trinamool Congress have already written to the Joint Committee of Parliament about their amendments seeking total withdrawal of the NDA's Bill.
The strategy of Congress is to somehow get a majority of members in the panel to oppose the main amendments being brought by the Government in the UPA's land Act. While the Trinamool Congress wants a total withdrawal of the amendments brought by the Government, the BJD favours making the land loser a stakeholder when it is acquired for profitable ventures.