BJP advised SP not to support bill
The prospects of an early parliamentary nod to the food bill brightened after the Samajwadi Party in its parliamentary board meeting on Tuesday decided to support the legislation subject to certain amendments to address issues pertaining to the interests of the farmers and also improving the nutritional aspects by including pulses too in the scheme.
Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath and Union minister of state for food and consumer affairs K.V. Thomas on Monday had met the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to seek his support for the bill.
“I have moved amendments. We will press for it. If the amendments are accepted, we will support, otherwise we will oppose it,” SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters outside Parliament. However, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani reportedly has spoken to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav on the issue of the food bill and is learnt to have advised him to be cautious about the government’s move.
More support poured in for the contentious legislation, as the JD(U), which has 20 Lok Sabha MPs, came out in its support on Tuesday. Senior JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi told reporters that the food bill would benefit 86 per cent of people in Bihar. He said: “It will benefit so many people and hence we have decided to support it.”
Mr Tyagi explained that the UPA government has accepted two of the three amendments in the bill moved by his party, which included sharing the financial burden of transporting food across the state and to bear the expenditure for expanding fair price shops. The JD(U)’s another demand to sponsor setting up of cold storages in states has not been accepted by the government yet.
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