SAD charges on land bill unfair: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav

NEW DELHI: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav has vehemently refuted allegations that the party-led government was “arrogant” and had not consulted its allies such as SAD before going ahead with the land bill. “This bill was first discussed in the Union Cabinet where leaders of all NDA parties were present as they are ministers in the government.

Therefore, to say that the bill was not discussed with them in advance is not fair,” Madhav told ET. SAD MP Naresh Gujral had alleged BJP, as the senior partner in the government, had not taken the views of its allies while going ahead with the bill. He said in a Cabinet set up “there may be different views on the extent of consultation required for the bill”.

He said the absence of any meeting of the ruling NDA being held a year into the government was “something that the government has to think about” as he is “only a party functionary”.

“We are accommodative and want cordial relationships with our allies. We will try and correct this perception, if that’s the way they feel,” he added. He said terming the government as pro-corporate was unfair since it had spent most of its policy energy on pro-poor programmes.