As main opposition BJP, Samajwadi Party, Left parties, Janata Dal-United and Rashtriya Lok Dal disrupted proceedings of Lok Sabha on the first day of Winter Session, DMK also voiced its opposition to the ordinance issued recently.
The Sugarcane Control (Amendment) Order 2009 Ordinance has changed the sugarcane pricing policy, fixing a uniform Fair and Remunerative Price which would put the burden on states, if they chose to pay more than FRP to farmers.
DMK leader T R Baalu said his party is opposed to the concept of state bearing the difference between the FRP and SAP. "We are opposed to it and the state governments should be taken into confidence."
He said, "If there is a structured and regulated discussion on sugarcane issue, we will participate in it and vent our feelings because the Central government has not taken the state governments into confidence."
In the Lok Sabha, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RLD president Ajit Singh led their party members into the well alleging a raw deal to cane growers as soon as the House met for the day and obituary references were made.
Yadav said the opposition is united on the issue. "Even those in government are supporting the opposition on the issue," he said in an apparent reference to DMK.
While on the one hand, the farmers are not getting their due and the right price, on the other, the public is being fleeced due to the high cost of foodgrains, he said.
Describing the ordinance as a 'loot,' SP leader Amar Singh said it was 'tantamount to filling the coffers of the rich of the country and hitting at the farmers hard.' He said the government has given directions for the import of raw sugar even as farmers burn their sugarcane.
The SP leader said the ordinance is such that United Progressive Alliance allies like the DMK and the Trinamool Congress are also supporting the opposition.
Singh said, "If need be I will go to BJP leader L K Advani and touch his feet (to seek his support) as the issue concerns farmers."
He also warned that if anyone (Congress) remains neutral in the issue, people of UP will punish them for that. However, Congress leader from UP Jagdambika Pal, sought to defend the government saying the ordinance was brought in the light of a Supreme Court ruling.
Asked about the protests, he said farmers should definitely get proper price. To a query about farmers not getting their money from the mill owners, he alleged it was due to the nexus between the Mayawati government and farmers in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP to bring in Adjournment Motion in LS
BJP will bring an Adjournment Motion in Lok Sabha and demand suspension of the Question and Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha on Friday on the contentious sugarcane price issue, which rocked Parliament on the first day of the winter session.
The main opposition has also demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 2009. Deputy Leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the opposition wanted a discussion on the sugarcane price issue and had requested the Speaker in the morning to allow it, but the government did not agree.
"The House was disrupted as our demand for a debate was not met," she said, adding that BJP will again move an Adjournment Motion in Lok Sabha on Friday morning and demand suspension of the Question and Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha.
An Adjournment Motion cannot be moved in the Upper House, leaving the opposition with only the latter option. Swaraj rubbished the contention of government sources that the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 2009 had to be brought in to generate resources for meeting a Supreme Court order, that directed the government to pay Rs 14,000 crore to sugar mills.
