‘Giving in may set bad precedent’
Maintaining that numbers are not a problem for the government to prove that majority in Lok Sabha is with it on any issue, be it no-trust motion or any other issue including FDI in multi brand retail, the UPA managers have insisted that they are not agreeing to the Opposition demand as they do not want to set a precedent for a debate in the Houses of Parliament on executive decisions under rules which entail voting. They, however, indicated that if the deadlock continued for another couple of days, the ruling coalition may agree to the Opposition demand and is confident of winning the vote.
Given the fact that the BJP has further hardened its position on the issue, even the all-party meeting, which parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath has convened to break the deadlock, might fail to convince the Opposition.
Since the chances of breaking the deadlock in Parliament appear to be very bleak, a section in the UPA managers are mulling the ideal of conceding to the demands of the Opposition for a debate on FDI issue under rules, which entail voting, sources said, adding that leaders of the Congress have begun work to ensure a victory with a comfortable margin on the floor of the House.
As per the internal calculations, around 25 members from the BJP, TMC and JD(U), the parties, which are opposed to FDI in multi-brand retail, are vulnerable to being persuaded, and UPA managers are looking at engineering a split in the Opposition rank to ensure passage of the vote by a comfortable margin.
Sources said, six supporters of B.S. Yaddyurappa from BJP are being wooed, while four TMC MPs, who are disgruntled with party chief Mamata Banerjee, will certainly defy the whip at the time of voting. The UPA strategists have calculated a strength of 244 for themselves, while the entire Opposition put together comes to 240.
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