Land Bill: Cong looks to up the ante as govt plans renewed

The show-down over the land Bill is set to escalate after Rahul Gandhi's attack on the ruling dispensation as the government appears to be in no mood to relent amidst an indication that it would push the proposed legislation in Parliament after May 4.
A clear indication to this effect was given by a senior Union Minister, who said that the government will go ahead with the measure in the first week of May, notwithstanding the protests.
Congress on the other hand was in an aggressive mode after Rahul's attack on Modi government as a "suit boot ki sarkar".
Unwilling to let the momentum slip, the party today went to the extent of suggesting that it could bring a "privilege motion" against Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh for "unabashedly misleading" the nation on the statistics on the areas affected by unseasonal rainfall.

"Agriculture Minister Singh intentionally, knowingly and deliberately not only misled the Lok Sabha but the entire country.
"Congress demands that Singh come out clean on the issue and apologise to the people. This is clearly a matter of a breach of privilege," charged party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed.

Government sources, meanwhile, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hailed the Agriculture Minister's reply at a meeting of the BJP's Parliamentary Party.
"The Prime Minister hailed the Agriculture Minister for giving a reply backed by facts. He said that though he did not hear the reply, he was told that the Agriculture Minister spoke factually," a Union Minister said.

On the land Bill, sources in the government hinted that the ruling dispensation will target the Congress and question as to why it did not bring land acquisition under 13 central laws within the scope of the 2013 land acquisition law and whether it was done to "favour some select industries".
The NDA government could also argue that the Rural Development Ministry under UPA had, in 2012, circulated to the Group of Ministers (GoM) looking into the land Act a revised draft of the Bill hailing it as being investor friendly and pro-industry when some other ministers were opposing the original proposals on it finalised by the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi.

"They are calling us pro-industry and anti-farmer. Fact is that they had diluted the original proposals finalised by the NAC. All these facts will come out before the public," a minister said.