TRS joins opposition to agri bills, but govt remains confident

NEW DELHI: Amid determined resistance to the three farm sector-related bills by Congress and others, government managers remained confident of the passage in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday of the troika of legislations aimed at liberalising trade in agricultural commodities.
On a day when BJP’s estranged ally SAD, Congress, DMK and TRS instructed their members in the Upper House to vote against the bills, government managers dismissed the suggestion that the legislations might get blocked in the RS where BJP does not have a majority of its own.“They will go through 200 percent. In fact, numbers are so heavily stacked in our favour that chances are they may be passed by a voice vote,” said a senior BJP member.
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 Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asking for the bills to be sent to the Select Committee. They all will obviously be opposing the legislations cleared by the Lok Sabha on Friday, when it comes up in the Upper House.
NDA which has a strength of 110 excluding SAD in the House with existing strength of 242, is also assured of the support of 24 other members belongings to regional formations like AIADMK, BJD and others.
The SAD has issued whip to its three MPs in Rajya Sabha to vote against the three bills. The party has three members in the Rajya Sabha – Naresh Gujral, Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
Talking to TOI, Gujral said the party remains part of the NDA but strongly opposes the bill in its current form. “We are opposing the bill as our demand is that it should be sent to the select committee. All doubts be cleared by taking all stakeholders into confidence,” Gujral said
Congress managers have reached out to non-NDA parties, the "unattached block", but were not sure of the success of the effort. Further, at least 10 of its members who are above 65 and have not attended the House due to Covid are unlikely to take part in the voting.
There were indications that BSP might abstain from voting. Although chief of the Dalit outfit Mayawati had on Friday tweeted to oppose bills, sources said that it was likely to avoid taking sides. The sudden switch to caution was being attributed to persuasion by a Union minister and a senior BJP functionary.
Government managers are leaving nothing to chance to ensure the smooth passage of the bills which Prime Minister on Friday termed as "historic pro-farmer measures".
BJD, which supported the three bills in Lok Sabha despite misgivings and wants government to address them, avoided spelling out its stand. Sources, however, ruled out the possibility of the party voting against the legislations. "We might insist that government satisfies us during the debate, but are not going to cast a ‘no’ vote. We have never done that against this government", said a senior party source on the condition of anonymity.
The House has allotted four hours for discussion and voting, if it happens, on Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, The Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 for discussion and passage.
The legislations are aimed at liberalising trade in agricultural produce by ending the monopolies of APMCs, the mandis, and marginalising the grip of the aadhatiyas or the middlemen.
Although BJP's oldest ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) pulled out of the Modi government to protest against the legislations meant to restructure agricultural trade and amid continuing opposition from Congress and others, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted about importance of the bills, terming them " historic" pro-farmer measures and has dismissed the resistance posed by various parties.
DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran said, “We will be voting against it as we did in the Lok Sabha. Our leader M K Stalin is having an all party meeting in Chennai on Monday to discuss and chart out a strategy to protest throughout the state against this anti-farmers bill. Another Tamil Nadu party, MDMK also announced its opposition to bills.