Caste emerges bigger than Hindutva in UP poll

Stealing a march on rival parties, Congress leaders of Punjab, Haryana and other states extracted an assurance from the union finance minister P Chidambaram that no estate tax would be imposed on agricultural land.The development with the hopes of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab and opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana political advantage Center movement to amend the Law of Property Tax to redesign the contours of your farmland taxation.The SAD-BJP government in Punjab has called a special session of the Assembly on May 3 to discuss the issue and adopt a resolution in the House. The INLD had demanded on Saturday to convene a special session of the Haryana assembly. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and warned of "a conflagration of social disorder, anarchy and economic crisis" in the case of wealth tax which is levied on agricultural land . Badal also requested the intervention of the Minister of Finance on the subject.Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who led a delegation of Congress Union Ministers, MPs and MLAs of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Odisha and Delhi, which met Chidambaram in New Delhi, said: "The Minister of Finance has said he will make a statement on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, while in response to the law of finance and wealth tax not be imposed on agricultural land, either within or outside the municipal boundaries. "He said Chidambaram speak to quell any misunderstanding on the subject. Deepender Singh Hooda, Congress MP from Rohtak (Haryana), told reporters that the delegation convinced the FM on the subject. "This is a historic decision," he said.Talking to reporters, Punjab Congress chief and Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa said: "We have done our part. Nevertheless, we convey to the Punjab government to continue the special assembly session. Now, the state government should withdraw the imposition of property taxes and electric rate increase. "Besides the CM Haryana Hooda Deepender Bajwa, the delegation included union information and broadcasting minister and Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, other members of Congress from Punjab Santosh Chaudhary ( Hoshiarpur), Ravneet Bittu (Anandpur Sahib) and Vijay Inder Singla (Sangrur), Rajya Sabha MPs from Haryana, Ram Parkash and Dr. Shadi Lal Batra, party members from other states, Bhakta Charan Das (Kalahandi, Odisha), Sandeep Dikshit (East Delhi), Jyoti Mirdha (Nagaur, Rajasthan) and Harish Chaudhary (Barmer, Rajasthan) and Punjab MLA Sunil Jakhar, also leader of the opposition in the assembly, and Jagmohan Singh Kang.The delegation complained FM urging on behalf of Congress to "intervene for the withdrawal of the proposed amendment, and issue a clarification to the effect that urban land does not include agricultural land, and no wealth tax is liable to be paid. "