Food bill only for polls, has nothing for poor: Mulayam
Raising a number of questions over the Food Security Bill, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said, “It is clearly being brought for elections...Why didn’t you bring this bill earlier when poor people were dying because of hunger? ... Every election, you bring up a measure. There is nothing for the poor,” the SP chief said.
Mr Yadav questioned the government whether it had any assessment of the number of poor in the country. “There is no mention in the Bill... You don’t have any figure. You are only going by assumptions,” he said, adding that the bill could be brought only after the BPL census was completed.
Emphasising that the measure would put additional financial burden on the states, Mr Yadav said the Centre should consult chief ministers and till then, keep it in abeyance.
On the other hand, Dara Singh Chauhan of the BSP, another key outside supporter of the UPA, backed the bill saying it would provide food security to the poor. JD-U President Sharad Yadav, whose party recently parted ways with BJP-led NDA over Narendra Modi issue, praised Sonia Gandhi for “speaking in the language of the country” while participating in the debate on the bill. But at the same time, he said the measure is a national scheme and no burden should be put on the state governments.
Kalyan Banerjee (TMC) said the bill should not be used as a political gimmick. He expressed apprehension that this would be treated as political gimmick in the elections.
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