By IANS,
New Delhi: The deadlock over FDI in retail deepened Wednesday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rejected the government’s plea for toning down its adjournment motion on the FDI issue, saying that it was “non-negotiable”.
BJP leader L.K. Advani conveyed to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the wording of the adjournment motion moved by the BJP on the FDI in retail was non-negotiable, informed sources said.
Mukherjee called Advani in the evening in another bid to end the deadlock in parliament over the FDI in multi-brand retail, but failed to make any headway.
Advani made it clear that the way to go was to follow the suggestion given by Sushma Swaraj, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, at the all-party meeting, chaired by Mukherjee, Tuesday.
Swaraj had suggested at the meeting that the government should roll back its decision on FDI in retail and start a discussion on price rise before this contentious issue was cleared by the union cabinet.
The latest move by Mukherjee to break the deadlock came even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to leaders of allies Trinamool Congress and DMK after attending a meeting of the Congress core committee to find a way out of the impasse in parliament on the FDI issue.
According to Congress sources, Manmohan Singh explained to leaders of the DMK and Trinamool the need to avoid a political crisis over the FDI issue.