Talk of Monsoon Par session in July for Jharkhand, Food Bill

Talk of convening Monsoon session of Parliament in early July for extending President's rule in Jharkhand is gaining ground, an occasion that can be utilised for pushing through the ambitious Food bill.
While there has been no official word on the issue, the Central rule in Jharkhand is expiring on July 18 and the government will have to move beforehand in Parliament if it wants to extend it for another six months.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi today held consultations with top party leaders including Rahul Gandhi, A K Antony, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Jairam Ramesh on the way forward in Jharkhand.

PCC President Sukdev Bhagat, CLP leader Rajendra Prasad Singh and AICC in-charge Shakeel Ahmed were also present at the hour-long deliberations.
Congress appears to be buying time by saying that it was still in the process of consultations on the issue of formation of an alternative government in Jharkhand. The AICC claims that the state party was still divided on formation of government there.
The talk in political circles is that assembly elections in Jharkhand will be held along with those in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

Reports earlier had it that most of the state leaders of Congress are in favour of forming an alternative government but Sonia Gandhi's reluctance to have any tie-up with JMM has prevented formation of any alternative government with Congress participation.

The BJP at the party's National Executive recently had put the ball in the Congress' court on the passage of Food bill insisting that it was not against the measure but pointed out faults in a "lot" of provisions of the draft legislation .
A senior Congress leader said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath was having talks with all concerned on the way the Bill should be brought before Parliament.
The bill was tabled in the Budget session but could not be taken up for discussion because of pandemonium in the Lok Sabha over various scams.
Congress considers the Bill as a gamechanger in the next elections.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and some other ministries have voiced their opposition to adopting the ordinance route to implement the proposed food law.
The Food Ministry, the nodal department to implement the proposed law, itself is not much in favour of an Ordinance to implement the food security law, that seeks to provide legal rights to 67 per cent of the population over a uniform quantity of 5 kg foodgrains at a fixed price of Rs 1-3 per kg through ration shops.