While the Trinamool Congress may have agreed to back UPA’s Hamid Ansari in the race to the post of Vice-President, it will continue to oppose the Centre’s “reforms agenda” if its concerns remain unaddressed.
The party’s core committee, set up recently by its chief Mamata Banerjee, has reportedly been asked to study the bills that are scheduled be tabled in the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament and discuss them with the party chief who will take a call regarding the party’s stand vis-a-vis those bills. If even a single provision of any bill is found to be anti-people, the party will oppose it in Parliament, sources said.
A Trinamool leader said it will be wrong to assume that since the party voted in favour of UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential election, it will give “blind support” to the reforms agenda.
The party has already declared its disagreement with the Pension Bill and Land Acquisition Bill. Another battlefront between the Trinamool and the Centre is on the latter’s policy on coal royalty. The Centre has recently said that since Bengal collects cess on coal, it will not be entitled to increased royalty — a move that will cause a huge financial loss to the state government.
The party is also opposed to decontrol prices of diesel and LPG and entry of foreign capital in retail market.
“The Land Acquisition Bill was sent to the Standing Committee. We had registered our voice against some provisions of the Bill. If our concerns are not addressed, there will not be any change in our stand,” a Trinamool MP said. Trinamool insiders say the party does not want the government, both at the Centre and state, to play any role in acquisition of land for “so-called public interest projects” involving private parties.
Trinamool is opposed to the Pension Bill as it feels that if pension fund is allowed to be invested in share market, it will create panic among the pensioners.
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