Land and other key Bills to come up in Parliament this session, says M Venkaiah Naidu

HYDERABAD: Noting that the Land Acquisition and several other important Bills would be taken up during the Parliament session resuming this month, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said the Congress and other opposition parties should help in passing them.

"The Land Bill is the need of the hour. We are running against time to catch up with lost opportunities. The world is moving faster. India cannot lag behind. Parliament should prove to be an enabler rather than a playing ground for political and obstructionist battles," he told reporters here.

Stressing that the Land Bill has been brought after extensive consultations involving states, including those ruled by Congress, and other stakeholders, Naidu said Congress is opposing the Bill for the sake of opposition.

The NDA government has made amendments to the Land Bill in the wake of suggestions made by many, including Congress leaders like former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, he said.

"But unfortunately, Congress party, for political reasons, is trying to oppose this for the sake of opposition. Please do not oppose for the sake of opposition. Be constructive," the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.

Referring to some news reports, he alleged that Congress leader Jairam Ramesh spread misinformation on the Land Bill.

Besides the land bill, the government plans to move several other important bills, including GST bill, real estate development and regulation bill, undisclosed foreign income and assets imposition of tax bill 2015, warehousing corporation bill, regional rural banks bill, in the coming Parliament session, Naidu said.

To a query, Naidu said BJP had supported the Land Bill when it was brought by UPA government in 2013, but many leaders, including state Chief Ministers and the then Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, favoured making amendments to it.

"We are ready to consider if any good and constructive suggestions come on the proposed Land Bill now," he said.

To a query on separatist leader Masarat Alam Bhat raising Pakistani flags at a rally in Srinagar, he said the NDA government does not want anyone to indulge in any anti-national activities.

"Any fellow, who has got sympathy towards Pakistan, that is not acceptable. There is law, there are rules and regulations. You cannot just simply do whatever you want. You have to follow the law. The law takes its own course. The government is very clear. We do not want anybody in our country to do any anti-national act," he said.

Naidu, however, declined to comment on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi returning from his sabbatical, saying it is an "internal matter and problem of the party and family."

On Congress organising a farmers' rally in Delhi (on April 19), he asked what did the party do for farmers when it was in power for long at the Centre and also in states.