With Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee putting her foot down on the land acquisition Bill and warning the Cabinet that her party would be forced to oppose it in the House if it is introduced again, the UPA government has decided to put on the backburner the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007 and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007 till a way out is found.

Sources in the Government said that the Bills have been kept in abeyance and the move to introduce them during the current session of Parliament has been dropped. At a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night, Banerjee was learnt to have underlined her political compulsions in opposing the Bill.

Banerjee stayed away from Parliament today, skipping a lunch hosted by Pranab Mukherjee for leaders of political parties. She sent her junior minister to the Rajya Sabha that she was scheduled to attend. In the evening, however, she drove to Mukherjee’s residence.

Trinamool MP Sudip Bandopadhyay denied that Banerjee was going to boycott the House. He said his party had differences over the land acquisition Bill but it was not true that Banerjee had walked out of the Cabinet meeting or had threatened to quit. “We have lodged our dissent. But there is no question of quitting,” he said.

Banerjee’s opposition to the Bill has its roots in West Bengal politics. Opposition to land acquisition in Nandigram and Singur fuelled the rise of the Trinamool in the state and Banerjee believes she cannot be seen comprising on this issue before the Assembly elections in 2011.

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