Government to table Land Bill in Lok Sabha today, Congress says 'will fight the bill with full might'

New Delhi/Lucknow: The land acquisition bill will be tabled in Lok Sabha today with the government seeking to give another push to the controversial measure despite not having the numbers in the Rajya Sabha.

The bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha in March, could not be taken up in the Rajya Sabha following which the related Ordinance had to be repromulgated after proroguing the Upper House.

A copy of the repromulgated ordinance was placed in the Lok Sabha on April 20 and in Rajya Sabha on April 23, the opening days of both Houses in the second phase of the budget session.

As part of the plan, government has extended the session of Lok Sabha by three days today after a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.

The decision to bring the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to the Lok Sabha was taken in a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on Wednesday, the sources said.

The bill was earlier cleared by the Lok Sabha on March 10 during the first half of the budget session to replace an Ordinance, which had brought sweeping changes in the earlier land bill brought by the previous UPA government in 2013.

Following massive opposition to the new bill, government could not introduce it in the Rajya Sabha then.

To prevent the land acquisition Ordinance promulgated on December 31 last year from lapsing on April 5, the government got it Ordinance repromulgated.

The re-promulgated ordinance carried all the nine official amendments that were incorporated when the bill was passed by the Lok Sabha.

While the Opposition, mainly Congress, has been saying that the government should not make the passage of the bill a prestige issue, the government is keen that the bill becomes a reality but wants to dispel the "anti-farmer" tag, which the Opposition has sought to label it with over the issue.

There has been a talk that the government could suggest referring the bill to a joint committee of Parliament in order to evolve a consensus on it.

Accusing the Narendra Modi government of working blatantly to serve the interest of its "favourite capitalists", Congress today reassured that it will fight against "anti-farmers land bill with its full might".

"If someone comes to take your land, do not allow it at any cost... Congress will fight this war in the interest of farmers with its full might," AICC general secretary and in-charge of state affairs, Madhusudan Mistry was quoted as saying in Sitapur in a party release.

"Modi government is working totally in the interest of capitalists and wants to handover farmers' land to its favourite industrialists but Congress will not allow this," Mistry said at a meeting at Rampur Mathura block in Sitapur.

UPPCC chief Nirmal Khatri, who also addressed the meeting, said besides forcing the central government to withdraw the Ordinance brought in this connection, Congress will also force the state government to provide adequate compensation to farmers hit by unseasonal rains and hailstorms.

Congress which has planned to set copies of the proposed bill on fire to register its protest on May 12 at all block headquarters is organising preparatory meetings all over the state for it and Mistry and Khatri visited Sitapur in this connection.