Another setback for Rahul: Oppn stalls agri varsity Bill in RS

There was uproar in the House as soon as Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar rose to introduce the Bill.

A day after his game changer idea of giving constitutional status to the Lokpal suffered an embarrassing setback in the Lok Sabha with the defeat of the constitutional amendment bill,another pet project of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi setting up a central agricultural university in Bundelkhand was stalled by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

A united Opposition forced the government to defer the introduction of The Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University Bill,2011 in the Rajya Sabha,contending that incorporation of university was not under the union list. There was uproar in the House as soon as Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar rose to introduce the Bill.

The first objection came from CPIMs P Rajeeve,who said Pawar cannot introduce the Bill because as per the Constitution,the incorporation of university is not under the union list and hence8230; the union government has no right to introduce this Bill.

Pawar argued that the government has,in the past,introduced legislation for setting up central universities in the northeast and other states. But Rajeeve contended that precedence cannot replace constitutional provisions. He was joined by AIADMK members and BJPs Chandan Mitra,who said the Centre does not have the jurisdiction.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal came to Pawars support and argued that Entry 25,list 3 of the Concurrent List allows the Centre to set up universities.

Amid the din,Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan announced that Rajeeves objection had been overruled and asked Pawar to introduce the Bill. The Chair then sought mandatory approval of the House for introduction of the Bill,but the noes were clearly louder than the ayes,prompting the Opposition benches to seek division.

Sensing the mood,Khan adjourned the House for half-an-hour and called floor leaders for confabulations. The House was adjourned twice again as the closed-door discussions continued. Finally,Khan announced that the introduction of the Bill was deferred.

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Setting up an agricultural university in Jhansi was part of Rahuls outreach programme in Bundelkhand,in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. In fact,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had,during a visit to Bundelkhand in May,publicly acknowledged Rahuls proposal.

Rahul Gandhi told me about the need to set up an agriculture university in Jhansi district. We have taken the consent of the UP government for this project. We have already started work on a Bill relating to setting up a central agriculture university in Jhansi, the PM had said.