LUCKNOW: Within a day of the UPA government raising financial assistance to Uttar Pradesh by 20%, the Samajwadi Party did a volte face on the food security Bill saying it won’t oppose it in the monsoon session of Parliament. Until now, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was fiercely combative against the Bill saying it was against the interest of farmers.
"Why would we oppose the Bill? We are in support of it. The issue will be debated in Parliament and things will fall in place," said Samajwadi Party MP Mohan Singh on Friday. This was a day after the Planning Commission agreed to UP’s demand of Rs 69,200 crore annual plan for 2013-14, the second highest for any state after Bihar. The hike, compared to Rs 57,800 crore for 2012-13, is of around 20%.
Mulayam had opposed the Bill saying instead of distributing thousands of tonnes of food-grains lying in warehouses to farmers, the Congress was proposing schemes to woo voters. His party, which supports the Congress-led UPA government from outside, had called the Bill a conspiracy to impoverish farmers.
The SP chief had also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month and expressed his apprehensions about the Bill, suggesting 10 amendments to it. The food security bill is being dubbed as UPA’s vote-getting scheme before the 2014 elections.
President Pranab Mukherjee had signed the ordinance on food security on July 5 giving the country’s two-thirds population the right to five kg foodgrains every month at between Re 1 to Rs 3 per kg. The plan is seen as the biggest in the world with the government spending about Rs 1,25,000 crore annually on supply of 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to 67% of the population. The Union Cabinet had last month deferred the decision on the Bill following differences within the alliance, but later brought an ordinance to implement it.
The ordinance has to be ratified within six weeks of its tabling in Parliament. But it is already in trouble with the main opposition, BJP, seeking changes and accusing the government of trying to bypass a debate in Parliament by bringing the ordinance.