Issue of allowing 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and 100% in single-brand retail
on November 30, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Parliament’s both houses recessed again on Wednesday over the impasse on foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and now the Congress and the BJP are trading charges.
Both parties are charging on each other, but not clearly discuss on FDI in retail.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday called retired BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani over the logjam in Parliament on FDI.
Congress Core Group was held meeting at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which was also attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said: “The PM has made it clear that it is a well thought-out decision and the party supports it.”
Home minister P Chidambaram, commerce minister Anand Sharma, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel and defence minister AK antony were present in the meeting.
The meeting took place after Mukherjee met Congress MPs to discuss the impasse over the decision to allow foreign equity in retail.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma explain the decision on allowing 51% in FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 percent in single brand retail. over which Congress and DMK have objection while the entire opposition excluding Akali Dal is opposed to it.
The government had taken the decision under pressure of the US and other develped countries according senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj asked why the government was running away from discussion under a rule that means voting. Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the decision was a knee-jerk reaction from the government.
“These reforms are dangerous. There is no truth in what the government is saying…. No study has been done to see how many jobs will be created and this policy is being brought only under international pressure,” Joshi said.
“90 per cent of their business is in foodgrains in which the present turnover here is USD 4 billion and there are 1.10 Lakh jobs. The turnover should be USD 180 billion to create 40-50 Lakh jobs,” Joshi said.
“They (the government) should either roll back or roll out,” Joshi said.
On social networking site Twitter, Swaraj said: “We want a discussion in parliament on our adjournment motion on FDI in retail. Why is the government running away from a discussion followed by a vote in the house?”
“This means the government does not have the majority support in parliament on this decision,” she said.
Now, the government is sticking to its stand that FDI decision was not taken in hurry and would benefit various sections including farmers and consumers similar separated from several other benefits.
Both Houses of Parliament unable at the seventh day without any business tansaction.
