All NCP (SP) MPs to meet Modi on Monday to raise state’s devt issues

The party is also demanding that the BJP-led NDA government withdraw the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) Bill in its present form or refer it to a joint parliamentary committee for wider deliberations

MUMBAI: All eight Lok Sabha MPs of the opposition NCP (SP) will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, to raise a host of issues concerning Maharashtra, including water shortages, farmer suicides and problems arising from rapid urbanisation.

Supriya Sule, the NCP (SP)’s national working president and Baramati MP, addressed the media in Mumbai on Saturday. (ANI Video Grab)

The party is also demanding that the BJP-led NDA government withdraw the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) Bill in its present form or refer it to a joint parliamentary committee for wider deliberations.

Supriya Sule, the NCP (SP)’s national working president and Baramati MP, addressed the media in Mumbai on Saturday, to dispel any speculation on why opposition MPs are to meet the prime minister. She said that since the functioning of Parliament is consistently being stalled by adjournments and other issues, the NCP (SP) felt it was an opportunity to meet Modi, to bring the state’s development-related concerns directly to the prime minister’s attention. The meeting will take place at 11:00am at his office in Parliament, said Sule.

“Modi is not the prime minister of one party but of the entire country. As elected representatives, it is our right to meet him and raise issues concerning our constituencies and the development of the state,” she said.

The issues the MPs plan to raise relate to water scarcity, farmer suicides and challenges linked to rapid urbanisation. Sule also pointed to difficulties faced by MPs in implementing projects through the ₹5-crore annual development fund, alleging that they were not receiving the cooperation they needed from the Maharashtra government.

Sule also said her party is firmly opposed to the FCRA Bill in its current form. “Our request to the government is to withdraw the Bill. If it does not want to withdraw it, the Bill should be referred to a joint parliamentary committee, where leaders of all parties can sit together and discuss it in detail.”

She added, “The government must take action if foreign funds are being used for drug trafficking or terrorist activities, but should not treat all foreign contributions with suspicion. If money is coming from abroad for the education of poor children or for polio injections, how can it be called dirty money? It is wrong to always look at foreign funding with suspicion.”

On the controversial Delimitation Bill, Sule said it is premature to take a position as the Bill had not yet been introduced in Parliament. She said opposition parties were discussing the proposed legislation every morning at meetings of the INDIA bloc under the leadership of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. “Once the Delimitation Bill is introduced, the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Trinamool Congress and other alliance partners will discuss it and decide their next course of action,” she said.

Sule also demanded a transparent Special Investigation Team probe into the events surrounding the recent protests at Jantar Mantar and the action taken against the protesters, besides an inquiry into the controversy surrounding the NEET examination.

She said the truth about what happened during the protests, including the alleged use of pellet guns and tear gas, must come out.

Sule thanked RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for describing the new generation as honest, adding that she would be happier if the BJP and the government took note of his remarks.