New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) Calling for a rollback of the ‘ill-timed’ decision to allow 51 percent foreign equity in multi-brand retail, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley Friday said the Congress-led government faced the dilemma of losing face or a parliament vote on the issue.
‘The (United Progressive Alliance) government ill-timed its decision on allowing FDI in multi-brand retail. Both from the viewpoint of economic realities of India and the present political situation, any political observer will be surprised by the timing of the decision,’ Jaitley, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said in an article posted on the party’s website.
He claimed that the government ‘suddenly’ decided to go in for ‘a big-ticket agenda’ of FDI in multi-brand retail in the face of mounting criticism about its economic mismanagement and impression that it had abandoned the path of economic reforms.
However, the decision not only united the opposition but UPA constituents Trinamool Congress (TMC) and DMK and its outside supporters, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also spoke against the decision, said Jaitley.
‘The government has got into a chakra-vyuha (a trap difficult to escape). It is finding no escape route. If it rolls back the decision, the prime minister will lose face. If it agrees for an adjournment motion with a vote, the parliamentary numbers are loaded against the government. The government cannot afford to lose the vote and hence, its entire energy is concentrated on the DMK and TMC to get them dilute their position,’ he said.
Jaitley said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government had resisted pressure from western powers that India should open up its retail sector to multinational corporations.
‘There was a national consensus that time has still not come to open this sector. The government has gone against this consensus. It will still be prudent for the government to rollback the decision,’ he said, adding the decision will hurt the Indian economy.
