NDA had promised FDI: BJP
The main Opposition BJP, which on Tuesday asked the government to either roll back its decision allowing FDI in retail sector or accept its “non-negotiable” adjournment motion on the issue, admitted that not the BJP’s, but the BJP-led NDA’s election manifesto of 2004 had promised to allow 26 per cent FDI in the
sector. However, the party insisted that after a conscious decision, the idea was abandoned in the 2009 general elections.
Asserting that “opinion can always be revised”, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said: “There is no bar against wisdom.” The party claimed that the NDA might have seen some merit for favouring FDI in 2004. “We are not against the concept of FDI but not in retail,” said Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley. “From 1980 (when the BJP was formed) till today none of our (the BJP’s) manifestos has ever supported FDI in retail. When we were in power (1998-2004) there was international pressure to allow it and some committees were formed to look into it but it was never implemented,” Mr Jaitley said. “In the 2004 elections there was no BJP manifesto but a vision document.” The BJP insisted that accepting the adjournment motion, which necessarily entails voting as it is “in-built” in the provision, would give a sense of the House on the FDI issue. Though its key ally Shiromani Akali Dal did not attend the meeting as it is favouring FDI, the BJP claimed the SAD is “consistently against the Congress for decades. If there is voting (on the FDI issue) they will vote with us.”
Accusing the government of “not being interested” in running Parliament, the BJP said “propriety demanded” PM Manmohan Singh should have chaired the all-party meeting on Tuesday.
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