The Trinamul Congress is planning to charge the government for contempt of Parliament as President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure as the finance minister had assured the Lok Sabha on December 7, 2011 that a “decision on multi-brand retail would be implemented only after a political consensus was reached.” Later in the day, Union minister Narayansamy assured that the government would take allies on board before taking crucial decisions.
Meanwhile, trying to put the government on a sticky wicket, the Trinamul Congress is planning to press for a “vote on FDI”. Sources said that since the FDI in retail is a Cabinet decision and not a legislation passed in Parliament, it cannot be voted on.
A Trinamul leader said the party would try to get a “sense of the House” to expose the positions of the parties on the issue without going in for vote. The move could put the government in an embarrassing position, since most of its key allies are opposed to FDI in retail. Even as Trinamul leader Saugata Roy maintained that the party “will not press for a trust vote”, the parliamentary affairs minister P.K. Bansal said that there was “no need for a trust vote, since the government has adequate number.”