NDA reaches out to allies to justify its farmer-focused Budget

Also, PM Modi asked the NDA MPs to work towards taking the benefit of newly announced 'Pradhan Manti Fasal Bima Yojana' to farmers

After the barrage of complaints that they were being taken for granted, the government reached out to alliance partners - Shiv Sena, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Akali Dal and assorted alliance partners from the North Eastern states - to take the message of the farmer-friendly budget 2016-17 far and wide. The message was especially aimed at the Akali Dal, which has been grumbling about the political issues including incarceration of political prisoners in Punjab jails.

The Budget at least partially addresses many of their complaints including FDI in retail. The Akali Dal was not for blanket rejection of FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent FDI in food processing of food produced and marketed in India is seen by the party as a foot in the door in opening up India's retail trade. At the meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wants to bring the largest possible number of farmers under the new crop insurance policy while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserted that the scheme will address agriculture distress.

Sena MPs did not attend the meeting, saying they were not 'informed' about it. "There was some communication gap," its MP Anandrao Adsul said. Jaitley told the MPs that the government was making all out efforts to create an "insured and pensioned" society and highlighted steps like health insurance and life cover announced for the masses, sources said.

BJP and its allies expect that the budget will help them blunt the opposition's charge that the government had an"anti-farmer" bias at a time when assembly polls are due in five states, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and West Bengal, in April-May. The crucial UP elections are scheduled for next year.

The over one-hour meeting saw a brief intervention by Modi when he asked MPs to work towards taking the benefit of newly announced 'Pradhan Manti Fasal Bima Yojana' to farmers. He urged NDA MPs to take this as a challenge in their constituencies, the sources said.

BJP chief Amit Shah, who was also present, lauded the Budget for its pro-farmer and pro-village thrust.

The JNU row and the debate in Parliament over it also found a mention with Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu giving an account ofdevelopments in JNU and Hyderabad Central University and urging the members to counter Opposition's charges.