The Centre and the Opposition are getting ready for yet another showdown — on the Insurance Bill and the hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel.
While the Opposition is divided on the Insurance Bill, it is united on the statutory motion against the decision to hike excise duty on petrol and diesel.
Apart from the CPI(M), the Trinamool Congress has also moved a statutory motion in the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha, the Congress has questioned the Centre’s notification on the matter.
“The BJP will have to muster courage for the floor test. This is something that they cannot avoid. Let us see who all will oppose the motion. That is another test,” CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters here on Tuesday. Raising the issue of oil prices during Zero Hour, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that despite a decrease in international crude prices, the Centre is not helping consumers but using excise duty to offset its budgetary deficit.
Double standards Meanwhile, in the Rajya Sabha, KN Balagopal of the CPI(M) said the Centre should stop its double standards in deciding the domestic prices of petrol and diesel.
“If the 40 per cent reduction is translated on to the domestic rates, the price of petrol would have done down to ₹45 from the current average rate of ₹68. In the case of diesel, the prices should have been ₹40 a litre,” he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the CPI(M) has changed its stand on decontrol and no longer wants any subsidies on oil products.
“Is it the CPI(M)’s position that all subsidies in the petroleum sector should be withdrawn as per decontrol...he wants total decontrol now.
“Understand the consequences,” he said in reaction to Balagopal’s charge.
The JD(U), SP and CPI(M) have given a joint dissent note against the Select Committee’s report on the Insurance Bill. They have urged the Centre not to deviate from the unanimous recommendation of the Standing Committee on Finance on changing the cap on FDI. The Congress is supporting the NDA government on the Bill.
The Select Committee is believed to have endorsed most provisions of the Insurance Amendment Bill, including a composite cap of 49 per cent for FDI and other foreign investments.
“The Finance Ministry has failed to give satisfactory reasons for not accepting the unanimous report of the Standing Committee. They have only submitted the same views which had been rejected by the Standing Committee unanimously,” the dissent note said.
Backing domestic insurance companies, the dissent note said: “Most of the private insurance companies in India are subsidiaries of big flagship corporate houses like Tata, Birla, Reliance, Bajaj etc having sound financial base who are also venturing for big ticket takeover of industrial units of foreign countries.”