 "Watch out Congress! Mulayam Singh's getting ready to stab you in the back on Land Bill")
“The entire opposition is against the Bill and we are surprised that this government is time and again taking anti-farmer stand and is favouring the industrialised," Mulayam Singh Yadav had said in February.
The Samajwadi Party may have been one of the staunchest opponents of the Land Acquisition Bill in the past, but if party leader Ram Gopal Verma’s statements on Monday are anything indication, the party is readying to do a political somersault, leaving its ally Congress stranded in its offensive in Parliament. [caption id=“attachment_2354288” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
PTI image[/caption]
Speaking to the Economic Times
, Yadav said that the Congress’s stand on the legislation lacked ‘pragmatism’ and they wouldn’t stand behind them in every scenario. “There is no question of it. Hum kisi ke pichhlaggu nahin hain (we are not anyone’s lackeys). We are not going to stand with them on issues that they are raising only to vent their frustration,” Yadav told the newspaper. The Samajwadi Party leader said that infrastructure could not be built without land acquisition and the party is willing to find a middle path on the legislation with the appropriate amendments. While the Samajwadi Party’s support won’t matter in the Lok Sabha where the BJP has adequate numbers, its backing in the Rajya Sabha. however small, is invaluable for the Modi government.
As this Telegraph report pointed out
, the 15 Samajwadi MPs in the Upper House of Parliament helps the BJP come considerably closer to countering Congress which has 68 MPs. The report quoted a source close to the Ram Gopal Verma playing down the Samajwadi Party leader’s remarks, claiming that he was merely highlighting the need for the parties to work together on all matters, including the land bill and there was no sense in “repeatedly holding up business”. But Yadav’s statement comes on the heels of other signs of a thaw between the BJP government and the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh. “If the National Democratic Alliance government takes care of our concerns, we can reconsider,” SP’s Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Yadav
had said earlier
to the Business Standard. While state’s chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, didn’t turn up for a meeting with the Prime Minister where the land bill was discussed,
Firstpost’s Sanjay Singh had noted
the state government has been in talks with the Centre for some time now on the matter. More importantly, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and other party leaders were also notably absent during the iftaar party hosted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. So is political betrayal on the cards this monsoon session?
An India Today report hints at the fact that both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party may be set to desert the Congress for completely different reasons. Akhilesh, under fire over law and order in the state and multiple controversies, may be preparing for an infrastructure push in the state ahead of the 2017 polls in which the BJP and BSP will be snapping at his party’s heels. To achieve the same, he needs land and he sees the Land Acquisition Bill as the best opportunity to boost acquisition in a short time period for major public projects.
The Bahujan Samaj Party, according to the India Today report, may be planning to ask its 10 MPs walk out of the Rajya Sabha when the legislation comes up for debate in the upper house. SP, on the other hand,may well change sides if the BJP is able to offer the amendments that the party is seeking.
The final stance of the party will not be clear until the bill comes up for discussion, and party chief Mulayam Singh makes a statement on the issue. But given that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to be campaigning during the Uttar Pradesh elections and touting his development campaign, Akhilesh and Mulayam Singh will not want to be lacking in the ‘development’ department. If it means accepting the bitter pill of U-turn on the land bill, the Samajwadi Party may just be willing to swallow it if BJP sweetens it enough.