MODI DELAYING FOOD BILL: CONG
Food Minister says Modi has raised five objections to the Bill and has called for a meeting of CMS for wider discussions
The Congress claimed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s hand in delaying the passage of the food security bill by Parliament that guarantees the right of food to the country’s two-third population even as the Congressruled Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh rolled out the food scheme on the occasion of the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Coming from a paralysed Lok Sabha that was to debate and pass the food security bill on Tuesday, Union Food Minister K V Thomas directly accused Modi for putting roadblocks in the Bill, taunting him that he wants to be the next prime minister, but he is foremost in denying the right of food that the UPA government wants to bestow on the people.
Referring to a letter written by Modi raising five objections to the Bill and calling for a meeting of the CMs for wider discussions before taking Parliament’s nod on it, Thomas said: “Last week when I got the letter from Narendra Modi, what was the aim? It was to delay. He is trying to delay the bill, trying to deny people their rights.”
Thomas also taunted the BJP that on one hand it does not oppose the Bill, on the other it questions the wisdom of increasing the subsidy burden on a flailing economy and then moving a plethora of amendments to scuttle passage of the Bill. He said the BJP had assured support for passage of the Bill, but it was creating hurdles, coming under the influence of Modi.
The Congress is trying to push the Bill in the Lok Sabha since last week, only to squirm at the House again getting paralysed and adjourned on Tuesday because of the BJP kicking up the issue of the Coal-gate files that went missing, hampering the CBI probe. Sonia is daily coming to make a speech on the food security as the biggest welfare programme in the world and her party was even ready to get own MPs from Andhra Pradesh suspended to get the debate started, but the BJP blockade and other issues pushed the debate for another day.
The Government last night, in fact, sounded the political parties to incorporate ten of the 200 and odd amendments they have moved as its official amendments for smooth passage of the bill that must be passed in this ses- sion itself lest an Ordinance promulgated on July 5 for the purpose becomes null and void. The monsoon session is up to August 30 which may be extended by a week to pass this and other key bills, Parliamentary Affairs Ministry officials hinted.
Even as Sonia Gandhi launched the food security scheme and distributed smartcards to hundreds of the first beneficiaries in the Talkatora stadium here, member of the Delhi BJP staged protests outside, braving rains and water cannons of police, accusing the Congress for timing the scheme with an eye on the elections due in Delhi and four other states in November-December.
A key amendment agreed by the government is to extend the implementation period from six months to one year to accommodate the state governments complaining about a lot of work to be done to ensure there is no leakage and nobody entitled for the highly subsidised food left out.