All eyes on all-party meet to see if Houses will run

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With the all-party meeting on retail FDI scheduled for Wednesday morning, all eyes are fixed on its outcome as this will determine the fate of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

Two weeks have already been lost due to the stalemate over the government’s decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.

Taking no chances, however, a cautious government has got the Appropriation Bill listed in the order of business to be taken up by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Sources said if the all-party meeting fails to break the logjam on Wednesday, with the BJP and the Left insistent on a complete rollback of FDI in retail, not simply a freeze, the government would like to complete its financial business as quickly as possible.

Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said, however, that “we hope Parliament will run smoothly from tomorrow after the all-party meeting”. He also suggested that there were 'no irritants' after the government put its FDI decision on hold.

Both the BJP and the Left said Tuesday that the question of Parliament’s functioning depended on the government’s stand on the issue, which is likely to be articulated at the all-party meeting.

All changes are not reform: BJP

Both the BJP and the Left said Tuesday that the question of Parliament’s functioning depended on the government’s stand on the FDI issue.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Arun Jaitley, said the BJP was always been in favour of reforms if these were for the welfare of the people. But, he added, allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail was not such a case.

“All changes are not reforms. Some take us backwards,” he said.

Saying Parliament’s smooth functioning depended on the government’s stand, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said his party will be satisfied only with a 'complete' rollback and not 'abeyance' of the decision.

Karat suggested the government wanted to put the FDI decision on hold till the end of the Winter Session, saying it was 'mistaken' if it thought the policy could be implemented after that.

“We want a complete cancellation of the policy. We are totally opposed to it. If the government thinks it can manoeuvre and bring this back, they are mistaken. We will unite with all other forces opposed to it,” Mr Karat said.

JD(U) president Sharad Yadav indicated he would work toward finding a meeting point between the Opposition and the government on the issue.

“There is an all-party meeting on the FDI issue. My effort is that Parliament should now function after days of disruption,” he said.