By IANS,
Kolkata: Blaming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the logjam in parliament, senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta said here Tuesday that the central government should roll back its decision of permitting foreign investment in retail trade.
“To those who are blaming the opposition for the parliament logjam, I want to say that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is responsible for this logjam. It is true that we want to stop FDI (foreign direct investment) in retail trade, but at the same time we also want parliament to function… if the house functions, we can raise the issues of price rise and black money,” Dasgupta said at a press conference here.
He said he had spoken to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sushma Swaraj on the issue.
“Today, we have received the invitation (for the all-party meeting Wednesday). I have spoken to Sushma Swaraj. She told me that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has told her that the government will keep decision of FDI in retail trade in abeyance till unanimity is reached among the stakeholders.”
“I told her that not only stakeholders but also the political parties of parliament should be included in it, and the decision should be taken unanimously. Our position is clear: we want a complete rollback of the decision of FDI in retail trade,” Dasgupta said.
Nearly half the winter session has been lost due to protests and slogan-shouting by opposition members over various issues, mainly FDI in retail.
The government had decided Nov 25 to allow 51 percent foreign ownership of multi-brand retail stores and 100 percent in single brand outlets.
The central government has called an all-party meeting Wednesday to end the logjam in parliament over allowing FDI in retail following efforts over the past few days to reach out to opposition and some of its own allies on the issue.
According to Dasgupta, Manmohan Singh was personally responsible for the FDI decision – like the India-US nuclear deal – as he was the key player behind liberalisation of the economy.
Dasgupta also termed as “unethical” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement of the union government’s decision to keep the decision of FDI in retail trade on hold.
“If the personnel conversation between union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee comes out and if somebody tries to prove that for a particular political party the government have changed the decision, then I won’t say it’s ethical. It’s completely unethical,” said Dasgupta.
After talking to Mukherjee, Banerjee Saturday announced that the central government has decided to keep on hold the FDI decision till a consensus emerged.