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Trinamool, oppn for rollback of FDI in retail

December 05, 2011 14:48 IST
The Trinamool Congress is not happy with the government's move to put on hold its decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in retail and insisted that FDI should be rolled back. 

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinmool Congress, while talking to rediff.com on the issue, said, "My party's position inside and outside the cabinet cannot be different. We want a consensus to emerge on the issue of FDI and till then the FDI issue should be rolled back as our leader Mamta Bannerji has demanded." 

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury on the FDI issue on Monday. Mukherjee has offered to compromise saying that the government
was ready to keep on hold the decision on FDI in retail.

However, Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties opposing FDI in retail claim that they don't want the government to "hold back", but to "rollback" the decision -- meaning withdraw it altogether. Swaraj has said that BJP wants the issue to be discussed again in the all-party meeting. Let the government, she says, put on table the compromise offered on the FDI issue and let all parties discuss if the adjournment motion on it is still needed or not.

In view of the sensitive situation over FDI in retail all political parties have issued a whip to its members to remain present in Parliament on Wednesday. The adjournment motion on the issue of black money moved by the BJP is also likely to come up for discussion on Wednesday.
Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi