Looking to corner govt, Cong calls gen secys for council

Looking to step up its opposition to the controversial ordinance amending the Land Acquisition Act, Congress has convened a meeting of party general secretaries here on Monday to chalk out plans for a nationwide agitation for painting the government as 'anti-farmer'.
The Land Acquisition Act, a landmark legislation of UPA- II, was the brainchild of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and the party is accusing the Narendra Modi government of seeking to take the 'heart and soul' out of the legislation.
The meeting on Monday has been convened by Congress General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi at a time when the AICC has made it amply evident that it will take an aggressive stance in the coming days on issues like the land ordinance, hike of excise duty on petrol and diesel and creation of NITI Aayog.

AICC has accused the government of bringing the ordinance to help "vested interests" and has pointed out that the Land Acquisition bill was finalised by a Parliamentary Committee headed by BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, now the Lok Sabha Speaker.
Congress leaders have been insisting that President Pranab Mukherjee's action of seeking clarifications from the government on the ordinance was "a very serious thing". The party has said it would challenge the ordinance at every forum and raise the issue both inside and outside Parliament.