The all-party meeting on FDI in retail sector failed to break the logjam, as along with the Opposition NDA and the Left, UPA allies Trinamul Congress and DMK, as well as the SP and BSP, which lend outside support to the government,
demanded that the decision should be revoked.
Later reacting on the outcome of the all-party meeting, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, while putting the blame on the government for not facilitating smooth functioning of Parliament, said, “The Prime Minister was here. He could have convened the meeting and resolved the issue then and there.”
The Congress, however, claimed it would not succumb to any kind of “political blackmail”. AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “The Opposition has become obstructionist. It has crossed all limits in destroying parliamentary democracy. They cannot pre-empt the government by putting conditionality before a discussion on any issue take place. It is just not acceptable.”
With a couple of Congress MPs, including Sanjay Singh from Sultanpur, coming out against the FDI and accusing commerce minister Anand Sharma for the decision, a meeting of the party MPs has been called here on Wednesday when finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will seek to allay apprehensions.