TMC government in Bengal to table resolution against new farm laws in assembly on January 28

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal will table a resolution during the upcoming two-day assembly session, opposing the Centre's new farm laws and demanding their immediate repeal, a senior minister said on Monday.

The assembly session will begin on January 27 and the resolution will be tabled under Rule 169 during the second half on January 28, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

A two-and-half-hour-long discussion will be held, he said.

An all-party meeting was convened by Speaker Biman Banerjee at his chamber in the assembly during the day.

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The state government's effort to bring the Congress and the Left Front on the same page to table a joint resolution failed as the opposition parties wanted to bring it under Rule 185.

"They wanted to bring the same resolution under Rule 185. What is the point of bringing two resolutions on the same issue under two different rules? When the government has submitted a resolution, it is expected that it will be accepted," Chatterjee said.

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan said that the TMC government does not have any moral authority to bring a resolution against the Centre's new farm laws as the state administration too had passed similar laws a few years back.

"Unless the TMC government withdraws the similar laws it had passed a few years back, there is no meaning in bringing a resolution against the Centre's new farm laws. The resolution that we had submitted had those points but the state administration was not willing to accept it," he said.

The Left Front and the Congress, however, said that they will take part in the discussion and place their views in the House.

BJP legislative party leader Manoj Tigga said his party will oppose the resolution.

Apart from the resolution, two bills pertaining to the establishment of an agricultural university and GST-related issues will be tabled.