Cong lands in a spot

It was an embarrassing day for the government in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, with two bills being withdrawn.

The Rubber (Amendment) Bill was withdrawn as the ministers concerned were not
present in the House. But the Land Acquisition Act (Amendment) Bill was withdrawn as the government’s main ally, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, raised a banner of revolt.

While the rubber bill issue was purely procedural, more serious was the land acquisition bill. “The bill had been circulated to us in the morning. And then inexplicably it was withdrawn by the Lok Sabha secretariat,” an opposition MP said.

The bill looks at narrowing down reasons for which land can be acquired by the state for private parties. And only after 70% of the land required for a project has been acquired by private parties can the state chip in with the rest.

Banerjee’s party insists that the ratio of privately-acquired and state-acquired land should be 90:10, not 70:30. With her anti-land acquisition politics, Banerjee was always going to be a tough customer when it came to selling the bill. “The government is not in favour of it. It will infringe on the state government’s right to attract industry by offering land. It will be unfeasible for private parties,” said a government source.

Congress sources said party president Sonia Gandhi will try to break the deadlock. “We can talk of a ratio of 85:15 in favour of the state,” a senior minister said.

A few weeks back, Banerjee had threatened to walk out of a Union cabinet meeting when the bill was being considered. “I oppose it. If the bill is to be passed, the cabinet can do it in my absence,” she reportedly said.