BackCongress trying to woo urban middle class by opposing real estate bill
Senior leaders of the Congress said it was a 'logical' line to pursue given the fact that the bill was initiated by UPA
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New Delhi: The Congress, through its opposition to the real estate bill, is trying to win over the support of the urban middle-class for whom housing has always remained a vexed issue. Senior leaders of the Congress said it was a ‘logical’ line to pursue given the fact that the bill was initiated by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
On Saturday, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had met representatives of flat owners’ associations. The party in its official communication called the meeting as addressing the concerns of ‘middle class vis-a-vis the builder lobby"—a narrative that fits perfectly with the party’s criticism of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government working for the corporate lobby.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has listed the real estate (Regulation and Development) bill 2013 for consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The Congress is all set to oppose it and the numbers are in their favour. The continued opposition is likely eclipse the chances of the bill passing the House.
“We will oppose the bill in Rajya Sabha. It is only logical to do because we have been following up on the issue since a long time and it’s a bill that belongs to the Congress party. It is a serious issue which is of concern to a cross section of people including middle and the upper middle class," a Rajya Sabha member of the party closely associated with the bill said.
The Congress leader said the opposition to the bill will help the party reach out to the middle class. “In the past few days the focus has been on poor and farmers but we are not looking at it that way. Issues matter and the urban housing issue is of key importance to us," the leader said.
The real estate bill aims to set up a real estate regulatory authority to ensure sale of plot, apartment or building in an efficient and transparent manner. The NDA government has brought in 117 amendments and presented it to the Parliament last month.
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