We need not take lessons from Congress: Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad
Bengaluru: Claiming that the proposed Land acquisition bill of the NDA government is ‘people friendly’ and ‘pro-development’, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravishankar Prasad said there was no need for the BJP to take lessons from a party which had been rejected by people in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, the minister said the NDA government had decided to implement the Land acquisition bill with some modifications. Several chief ministers of Congress ruled states had opposed it when the previous Congress-led UPA government had tried to implement the same bill. However, the NDA government has made several changes in the bill to make it pro-farmer and pro-poor.
Mr Prasad claimed that if the bill was implemented, a number of industries would be set up and would generate jobs. Each member from the family of a farmer who parts with his land would be given employment. Besides, farmers would get four times more than the market price for their land. Unfortunately, opposition parties are misleading people on the bill. The land acquired from farmers would be used to build schools, hospitals, industries, he said.
Mr Prasad took potshots at the opposition saying ten years of UPA rule was mired in scams while there had not been a single scandal in the one year the NDA government was in power. The government had even made profit of '2 lakh crore by auctioning coal blocs. AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi who commented on the PM’s foreign tour, had gone missing for over two months, he added.
BJP demands reservation list
The opposition BJP has urged the state election commission to announce the reservation list for the posts of gram panchayat presidents and vice-presidents before the panchayat elections due on May 29 and June 2.
Former ministers Suresh Kumar and C.T. Ravi submitted a memorandum to Election Commissioner T.N. Srinivasachari requesting him to announce the reservation list for presidents and vice presidents at the earliest. The BJP says that announcing the reservation list after the elections will defeat the very purpose of decentralisation.
Since the deadline for withdrawal of nominations for the polls is over, the Commission should take steps to announce the reservation list, the BJP stated in the memorandum. If the government announces the reservation list after the poll results, the winning candidates would pressurise the government to change the reservation list, BJP said in the memorandum.
