Conciliation, and not confrontation, appears to be the new mantra of the government. This has become evident from crisis managers deciding to call an all-party meeting on the controversy over FDI in multi-brand retail here on December 7 in a bid to break the logjam in Parliament.
“An all-party meeting will be held here on Wednesday at 9.30 in the morning,” said minister of parliamentary affairs Rajeev Shukla. Mr Shukla added that a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) will be held on December 8. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will brief the CPP about the recent developments.
Meanwhile, both the Congress and the BJP have issued a three-line whip asking their MPs to remain present in the Lok Sabha on December 7 and 8 during proceedings. This has been done not for any particular issue but keeping in view the possibility of some “important business”, sources said. The change in the government’s strategy became clear when Mr Mukherjee spoke to Trinamul Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee twice on this issue in Kolkata. Before that he also spoke to the DMK leaders.
The government can move forward on the FDI issue only by bringing the UPA allies and the supporting parties — the Samajwadi Party and the BSP — on board. According to Congress insiders, the government cannot fight on many fronts simultaneously. The current crisis is not created by the BJP-led NDA or the Left-led third front but because of divisions in the UPA. The Opposition wants a floor test on any issue — FDI, black money or price rise — after realising that the SP and BSP cannot back the government directly or indirectly till the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
The two Houses will now meet on Wednesday. The current session is slated to conclude on December 22. Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said, “The decision to allow FDI in retail is right. In a democracy, sometimes you have to rework your steps... You have to take everyone along...” She was responding to a volley of questions from mediapersons, including whether putting FDI in retail on hold indicated capitulation before the UPA allies, mismanagement by the government and a setback for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Denying that putting on hold the decision on FDI meant bowing before allies like Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, she said it was “wrong to project that the move should be seen as a loss of face for the Prime Minister”. “We respect Mamataji. She is our valuable ally. We have an open mind for discussions in Parliament,” she said.