With numbers not on its side in the Legislative Council, the Congress government saw one of its poll promises - of amending the APMC act - stalled on Tuesday in the Upper House that decided to send the Bill to the House Committee to further study the issue. The development comes a day after the Bill was passed in the Legislative Assembly amid uproar by the Opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular).
The Bill, that has been a demand of the farmers’ organisations, proposes to scrap the amendments introduced by the previous BJP government.
After over two hours of discussion, the Agriculture Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was put to vote on sending it to the House committee, and the combined Opposition of BJP and JD (S) voted in favour. While 31 votes were cast in favour of the committee, 21 votes were cast against it. Senior JD (S) leader Marithibbe Gowda, however, broke ranks with his party members and supported the amendment Bill. Currently, the combined strength of BJP and JD(S) is 42 in the 75-member house.
