Government using FDI uproar to buy time, accuse BJP, Left
November 29th, 2011 - 9:17 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left Tuesday joined together to accuse the government of buying time by its “provocative act” of allowing foreign equity in retail, and said the continuous stalling of parliament would help to divert attention from major issues.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj attacked the government for not taking a decision on the BJP’s demand for rollback on FDI and also questioned why Tuesday’s all-party meeting was not chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the decision was to be taken by him.
“We said the house can function today if you roll back the decision (on FDI in retail). But Mr. Mukherjee gave no decision from government’s side saying he will talk to the prime minister,” Sushma Swaraj said, giving an account of the meeting.
“If the prime minister had to take the decision, why did he not chair the meeting,” she asked adding, “looks like the government wants to buy time”.
“We also said that adjourn the house till 2 p.m. and take a decision, but Mr. Mukherjee said the time was not enough,” she said, adding that no response had come from the government.
The opposition leader also questioned the timing of the decision, stating that it had divided the government’s own house at a critical time.
“There were questions about the timing of the decision. There were many complicated questions, but instead of solving the questions, they raised another question and divided their own house,” she said.
Asked if the government was delaying a decision because it wanted to delay tabling of the Lokpal bill, Sushma Swaraj said she concurred with this view expressed by left leader Sitaram Yechury.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury has alleged that the government had triggered the controversy around FDI in retail sector in order to divert attention from pressing issues, such as retrieval of illicit funds stashed abroad, and the Lokpal Bill.
“We think that by such a provocative act, the government is actually wishing, or working, to ensure that this winter session of the parliament does not function, so that it will not be accountable on many other issues, which it wants to avoid,” Yechury told reporters here.
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- Heat on FDI grows, government calls all-party meeting - Dec 05, 2011
- All-party meeting called to end parliament stalemate - Dec 06, 2011
- For peace in parliament, FDI policy 'suspended' for now - Dec 07, 2011
- Parliament adjourned for day amid deadlock over FDI - Nov 29, 2011
- Opposition insists on FDI rollback ahead of all-party meet (Roundup) - Dec 06, 2011
- FDI deadlock deepens, Advani rejects Pranab's offer - Nov 30, 2011
- PM responsible for parliament logjam: Gurudas Dasgupta - Dec 06, 2011
- No compromise on FDI in retail: BJP - Nov 30, 2011
- FDI war: BJP refuses to budge, Congress backs government (Second Intro Roundup) - Dec 01, 2011
- Anand Sharma writes to parties clarifying FDI stance - Nov 28, 2011
- FDI war: Deadlock deepens, BJP rejects Congress truce offer (Intro Roundup) - Nov 30, 2011
- Roll back FDI decision or get parliament nod, demands BJP - Nov 29, 2011
- FDI roll back unlikely at all-party meeting - Nov 28, 2011
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