Land ordinance: Cong plans another rally near Bhatta Parsaul

Seeking to turn the controversial land ordinance into a major issue, Congress leaders Madhusudan Mistry and Nirmal Khatri will participate in a meeting of farmers at Mirzapur village near Bhatta Parsaul.
Bhatta Parsaul in western Uttar Pradesh had grabbed the headlines after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi lent his support to a farmers' agitation over farm land acquisition there in 2011.
The meeting is being held as the government has acquired a large quantity of land for corporates and private builder in the name of 'Planned Industrial Development' in the area, said Dhirendra Singh, who has been associated with the movement of farmers in the area.

Former Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had recently addressed a farmers' meeting at one of the villages in the area, a day after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) gave its approval to a decision to hold a nationwide stir against the BJP government's decision on the land ordinance.
The farmers have been opposing the Ordinance as it had done away with the need for consent of 80 per cent of landholders as well as social impact assessment in cases under certain categories.