New Delhi:
The government's flagship Food Security Bill, stalled again on Tuesday amid repeated disruptions in Parliament over missing coal allocation files, will now be taken up on Thursday.
Sonia Gandhi, Congress president and UPA chairperson, was to make a rare speech in the Lok Sabha as her party made an all-out effort to push the Food Bill on the 69th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The Congress even came to Parliament ready to suspend its own MPs from Andhra Pradesh, who have been protesting against a separate Telangana state.
But the government lost another day to pass the Bill, which will lapse if it does not get Parliament's approval before this monsoon session ends on August 30. The Congress is counting on it as a vote-getter as it seeks a third straight victory in national elections, due by May.
This morning, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mrs Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had met before Parliament began to finalise their floor plan on the Food Bill.
On Monday, the PM also held consultations with senior cabinet colleagues to finalise last-minute changes aimed at clearing hurdles to it.
The Bill, which aims at providing highly-subsidized food to nearly 70 per cent of India's population at a cost of nearly Rs. 1.25 lakh crores, will be brought in Parliament with more changes to appease opposition parties and some allies.
The Samjawadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which extend external support to the government have said they will support the bill, but with amendments. The BSP's Mayawati wants a debate.
"If it is an amendment which is workable, the government will move that amendment," Mr Kamal Nath said on Monday.
The minister, along with Food Minister KV Thomas, yesterday met Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose 22 MPs are crucial for the government to get the Bill passed.