Faced with a united and unrelenting Opposition in Parliament, is the Government considering putting on hold its decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail?
That is what the West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, told reporters today in Kolkata after a telephone conversation with the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.
Agencies quoted Ms Banerjee as saying that the Finance Minister had told her that the decision on allowing FDI in retail had been suspended.
When asked about the West Bengal Chief Minister's statement, theUnion Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said any Government decision will be announced only in Parliament. “I cannot announce anything because Parliament is in session,” Mr Mukherjee said. “I talked to her twice, but officially I can't make any announcement as Parliament is in session,” he told reporters at his residence.
Ms Banerjee had made the statement after talking to Mr Mukherjee on telephone
Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and the DMK, both allies of the UPA Government at the Centre, are opposed to allowing foreign investment in the retail sector. But, they have said they will not do anything to rock the Government.
The Centre announced its decision on November 24 to allow foreign companies to invest up to 51 per cent in multi-brand retail. The month-long winter session of Parliament, which began on November 22, has been disrupted – first with the Opposition protesting rising prices and then over the move to allow foreign investment in the retail trade.
PTI quoted Ms Banerjee as telling reporters that, “it is not temporary… until and unless consensus is evolved, the issue (decision on FDI in retail) is suspended.”
She said the Finance Minister, who was in Kolkata, sought her party's opinion on the issue and she informed that the Trinamool Congress remained firm. “He informed me that the Cabinet decision on FDI entry in retail will be suspended until and unless a consensus is evolved,” PTI quoted Ms Banerjee.
However, political parties have reacted differently to Ms Banerjee's statement. The CPI leader Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, MP, and the BJP wanted the Centre to announce whether it had put on hold its decision to allow foreign investment in retail and that they would not react to a private conversation between the Union Finance Minister and the West Bengal Chief Minister.