New Delhi, Apr 18: An all party meeting will discuss the contentious land acquisition bill today which proposes to replace the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and address problems of industry relating to land acquisitions.
The first all-party meet on this issue took place on April 9 but ended with a deadlock as BJP, SP and Left Front opposed the bill.
Over the past one week, Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh met BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, seeking their support for the bill.
BJP had suggested that instead of acquisition, the land could be leased to developers as it was a "better proposition" because the land will remain with the farmer and would provide him with regular annual income.
"If land is not utilised for the purpose for which it was leased, it could be returned to the farmer," Swaraj had said in the April 9 meeting.
Jairam ramesh on Wednesday held talks with CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, S Ramchandran Pillai and Basudeb Acharia.
Government sources said they were hopeful of building a consensus on the issue in the meeting today.
