NEW DELHI: Even as the dates for Monsoon session of the parliament are likely to decided in the next a few days, there were indications that NDA government would even go for joint session in case the contentious land bill is stuck in the upper house.
Getting the land bill passed would be crucial for the government as it wants to kick start number of projects to realise its development agenda. With Lalit Modi issue set to dominate in the parliament, government will have a tough time getting the business done.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is current in US, gave an ample indication that government could go for a joint session. “I hope, we do not have to reach that situation (convening joint session of Parliament) and it gets sorted out before that,” Jaitley told reporters in California.
“The present government, as far as the constitutional mechanism is concerned, has the numbers. Therefore, we would like to make sure that this landmark reform in India does take place,” he added.
Currently, the land bill is being discussed by the joint committee of the parliament. The next step would be that the panel submits its report, and government make changes in the bill before presenting it to the Lok Sabha. As the bill be passed by the Lok Sabha, where the government has the numbers, it will have a problem in the Rajya Sabha. Only when a bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha that the government can call a joint session.
However, the opposition would not be in any mood to let the government call even a joint session.
CPM general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury said, "The bill has not been passed in the Rajya Sabha. There are various ways in which the bill will not be passed. Neither will it be defeated too. It will be referred by the joint parliamentary committee. Then the report will be examined by the Rajya Sabha. Then only things will happen.”
"The spirit of this bill is that they want to give no- holds-barred right to the corporates, both foreign and domestic, to acquire land from farmers and bulldoze them. It will create a disaster and it will kick off an agrarian crisis," he added.