BJP wants debate on food, land bills; blames UPA for delay

Observing that the Bharatiya Janata Party is in favour of passing the Food Security Bill with some amendments, party president Rajnath Singh on Monday asked the government to advance the monsoon session of Parliament for the purpose.

"We are ready for a debate on Food Security and Land Acquisition bills. We want these bills passed with some amendments. The monsoon session should be advanced for this," he told reporters.

He said it would be a cruel joke, if an Ordinance is issued on the proposed Food Security Bill.

The two bills would have been passed in the last session of Parliament had the United Progressive Alliance government accepted the resignations of Law and Railway Ministers (Ashwin Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal), as sought by the BJP then, said Singh.

Dismissing the allegations of the Congress -- that the BJP is not letting the Parliament function smoothly -- Singh said the primary responsibility to ensure the smooth functioning of the Parliament lay with the government.

Observing that BJP's role is like that of a watchdog, he said the saffron party was playing the role of principal opposition party effectively.

Noting that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is an extremely popular leader in the country, he said the issue of BJP's prime ministerial candidate would be decided by the party's parliamentary board.

Asked whether BJP patriarch L K Advani is pitching one against another by praising Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP president felt that Advani's statement had been interpreted in a wrong manner.

Reacting to a query about Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's reported remarks about a cold war within the BJP, Singh hit back, saying a cold war actually existed in the Congress.

Alleging that the Congress tried to put the blame on the BJP government for the recent deadly Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, Singh said the Naxal problem was a national issue.

The state government is accountable for law and order, but the Naxal issue was not merely a matter of law and order, he said.

All parties need to rise above political affiliations and come together to resolve the Naxal issue, he said.

The UPA government lacked an effective plan of action and conviction to address the Maoist problem, he alleged.

Further alleging that the UPA has been a failure on all fronts, he wondered which achievement the ruling coalition was celebrating after nine years in the government.

On the economic front, inflation and price rise, declining value of rupee against the dollar and fiscal deficit has become uncontrollable, Singh said.

He said when the National Democratic Alliance was in power, the current account was in surplus.

On the diplomatic front, India’s ties have soured with all its neighbours including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and others, said Singh The UPA government failed to come up with a strong response even though Chinese troops crossed into Indian territory, he said.

"China enters Indian territory. Still, our foreign minister was excited about visiting China. People do not know what the deal with China was. The government claims that
Chinese troops went back and Indian troops also came back. But, our soldiers were on our soil. Why did they come back," he asked.

Pakistani soldiers entered Indian territory and beheaded an Indian jawan, but still the government could not give a strong reply, he said.

Claiming that the UPA government had "betrayed" the people of Telangana by not keeping its promise to form a separate state, Singh maintained that the BJP would create a separate state if it came to power.