Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Wednesday questioned the Congress-led UPA Government's 'hurry' in bringing an ordinance on the Food Security Bill.
"What was the need to hurry when Monsoon Session of Parliament commences in sometime," Singh told the media here.
"Should have tried to get bill passed in Parliament after discussion on it. We had no intentions of opposing it," he added.
Earlier, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said that this move was intended towards gaining a 'political mileage', ahead of the national polls.
"It is important that the bill is discussed in the parliament whereas by the fact that the Congress had promised it in the first 100 days of their government, they didn't bring it then. But they have brought it in the last 100 days, very clearly shows that they are doing it for political mileage rather than for serving the poor," Sitharaman added.
The Communist Party of India also opposed the ordinance and demanded a parliamentary debate on the components of the Congress drafted bill.
More From This Section
"We oppose the ordinance. Government shouldn't have resorted to ordinance route on such an important bill. In fact the left parties want a legislation. The left parties conducted a countrywide campaign for food security and for right to food legislation," said CPI leader D Raja.
The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to promulgate an ordinance on the National Food Security Bill that seeks to give legal rights to 67 per cent of the population over subsidised grains every month.
The food security programme when implemented will be the biggest in the world with the government spending estimated at one lakh 25 thousand crore rupees annually.
Terming the ordinance as historic, Congress spokesman Ajay Maken said the government resorted to promulgation of ordinance, as there was no unanimity during the discussions with the opposition parties.
On June 13, the Cabinet had deferred the proposal amid differences on the issue.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said after the meeting of the Union Cabinet that the government will try to call a special session of Parliament to debate and pass the Bill, which aims at providing the legal right to subsidised food to nearly 67 percent of India's population.
The Food Security Bill was tabled during the budget session of Parliament, but could not be taken up for discussion because of opposition-led disruptions of proceedings arising out of scam-related allegations.
The Food Security Bill is aimed at giving legal rights to 67 percent of the population for a uniform quantity of 5 kg food grains at a fixed price of Rs 1-3 per kg through ration shops.