BJD says no to land acquisition law

Wants GST Bill to be sent to standing committee

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today took a detour from its position and said it will oppose the land acquisition bill in its present format in the parliament as the Union government did not take into account its key demand.

The party had earlier assured to support the bill subject to certain amendments raised by it.

"Initially, we were supporting the bill because the Union government had assured us to consider the amendments. But later it did not take into account our demand. That is why, we had walked out during the voting on the bill in Lok Sabha on March 10. Now, the bill has been resubmitted in the parliament and we will oppose it," said Bhartuhari Mehatab, BJD leader in Lok Sabha.

The regional party has promised to include land losers as a shareholder in commercial projects at the time of land acquisition in its poll manifesto last year.

"We will oppose the bill in accordance with the policies of the Odisha government and as per poll promise of BJD since the Centre did not consider our demand to include land losers as shareholders in a commercial project," he added.

The party has often sent confused signals about its stand on key legislations. For example, in the earlier leg of the Budget Session of the parliament, the regional party, which had first declared to oppose mines auction bills for coal and iron ore citing the mineral rich state was not taken into consideration while drafting the law, later made a U-turn in its stand and supported the Central legislations earning praises from Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the state on April 1.

BJD has been criticised by the Congress for its support to the land bill. Senior Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh had even dared chief minister, Naveen Patnaik to show BJD's inclination for farmers by opposing the bill in the parliament.

In the second leg of the Budget session, the Union government is trying to pass the Finance Bill 2015, comprising the budget proposals, a bill to arrest black money and the GST bill while land acquisition is in last part of its agenda.

The BJD has, however, showed no resistance to the GST bill, which aims at bringing uniform tax rate across the country. "The Odisha government has some apprehensions regarding the GST bill and therefore, we have demanded that it must be referred to a standing committee for a threadbare discussion," said Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo, BJD spokesperson and MP from Bolangir.

The Union government has re-introduced the land acquisition bill in the parliament after the ordinance related to the law lapsed earlier this month.

BJD has 20 MPs in Lok Sabha and has seven seats in the 250 member Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament, where the Central government lacks majority.