On a day when BJP’s separate ally SAD, Congress, DMK, and TRS instructed their members in the Upper House to vote against the bills, government managers rejected the suggestion that the laws they could get stuck in RS, where BJP doesn’t have a majority of its members. own. “They will go to 200 percent. In fact, the numbers are so strongly in our favor that they are likely to be approved by voice vote, ”said a high-ranking member of the BJP.
Twelve parties (Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Telangana Rashtriya Samithi, DMK, AAP, RJD, CPM, CPI, Shiv Sena, NCP, IUML) had signed a joint resolution two days ago and submitted it to the President of Rajya Sabha , M Venkaiah Naidu asking that the bills be sent to the Select Committee. Obviously, everyone will oppose the legislation passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday, when it arises in the Upper House.
NDA, which has a force of 110 excluding SAD in the House with an existing force of 242, is also supported by 24 other members who belong to regional formations such as AIADMK, BJD and others.
SAD has issued a whip to its three MPs in Rajya Sabha to vote against the three bills. The party has three members in Rajya Sabha: Naresh Gujral, Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
Speaking with TOI, Gujral said the party is still part of the NDA but strongly opposes the bill in its current form. “We oppose the bill as our demand is that it be sent to the select committee. All doubts are cleared by trusting all interested parties, ”said Gujral.
Congressional managers have reached out to parties outside the NDA, the “independent bloc,” but were unsure of the success of the effort. Furthermore, it is unlikely that at least 10 of its members who are over 65 years old and have not attended the Chamber due to Covid will participate in the vote.
There were indications that BSP might abstain from voting. Although the head of the Dalit group Mayawati tweeted on Friday to oppose the bills, sources said he was likely to avoid taking sides. The sudden shift to caution was attributed to the persuasion of a Union minister and a senior BJP official.
Government managers are leaving nothing to chance to ensure the smooth passage of bills that the prime minister called “historic measures in favor of farmers” on Friday.
BJD, which supported the three bills in Lok Sabha despite its misgivings and wants the government to address them, avoided expressing its position. The sources, however, ruled out the possibility of the party voting against the legislation. “We could insist that the government satisfy us during the debate, but we will not cast a ‘no’ vote. We have never done that against this government,” said a senior party source on condition of anonymity.
The Chamber has allocated four hours for discussion and voting, if it occurs, on the 2020 bill on Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) of Agricultural Products, the Agreement on Price Assurance and Agricultural Services 2020 of the Farmers Agreement ( Empowerment and Protection) and the Essential Commodity Act (Amendment) Bill 2020 for discussion and approval
The laws aim to liberalize trade in agricultural products by ending the monopolies of the APMC, the mandis, and marginalizing the control of the aadhatiyas or intermediaries.
Although the BJP’s oldest ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), withdrew from Modi’s government to protest against legislation aimed at restructuring agricultural trade and amid continued opposition from Congress and others, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has affirmed the importance of the bills, calling them “historic” measures in favor of farmers and has dismissed the resistance of various parties.
DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran said: “We will vote against as we did in the Lok Sabha. Our leader MK Stalin will have a meeting of all parties in Chennai on Monday to discuss and devise a strategy to protest across the state against this bill against farmers. Another Tamil Nadu party, MDMK, also announced its opposition to the bills.
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