Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader and former union minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the land acquisition amendments issue will act as a ‘sanjeevani’ ffor the revival of the Congress party in 2015 just as Chikmagalur was to Congress in 1978.

Addressing a press conference here, he stressed that the Congress, including the party’s government in the State, would continue to oppose the new Land Acquisition ordinance issued by the NDA government at the Centre.

He further said that we are not opposing for the sake of opposing. We are cooperating in many other bills including GST bill. This will be a long struggle for us, he said.

He alleged that the purpose behind these amendments is to benefit a few chosen favourite capitalists and traders and there is nothing else to it and farmers land would be forcibly acquired. The Congress will oppose the amendments, he added.

As of now, the amendments cannot be passed in the Rajya Sabha as they were opposed by SP, BSP, CPI-M, CPI, DMK, JDU, NCP and TMC” Mr Ramesh said.

Ramesh said that the Congress had already planned padayatras in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with similar agitations elsewhere in the country. He said the party?vice-president Rahul Gandhi would be at the forefront of the agitation.

Ramesh said that after the agitation against the land acquisition ordinance, the next frontier of political battle was against the relaxation of the environment and tribal laws in the country.

On the dilution of the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats by the State, Ramesh did not give a firm response.