Maya to vote for govt on FDI, win in Rajya Sabha likely

The Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday promised to vote in favour of Foreign Direct Investment in Rajya Sabha, giving much relief to the government which is bracing for a crucial vote on Friday, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam attacked parties which sided with the United Progressive Alliance despite having reservations over the measure.

A day after the Opposition motion seeking rollback of the decision was rejected convincingly in Lok Sabha, the Upper House took up the debate with opposition attacking the decision saying it would hurt the poor.

"We have decided to vote in favour of the government on FDI in multi-brand retail issue on Friday," BSP chief Mayawati, whose party has 15 members in the Rajya Sabha, said participating in the debate. The party had yesterday staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha, helping bail out the government in the vote.

AIADMK member V Maitreyan initiated the discussion and made a strong demand for withdrawing the decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.

Maitreyan and Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley earlier attacked the BSP as also the Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Nationalist Congress Party for helping the government in voting despite reservations to the policy.

The BSP was the main target of Jaitley who said, "You know that this policy is harmful is to the country. If you are willing to proclaim, you should be willing to strike."

Mayawati reacted sharply to the remarks that her party was helping the government under the Central Bureau of Investigation pressure saying the the main Opposition party is levelling such allegations after it found out that "grapes were sour" as its game plan did not succeed.

Her remarks led to noisy scenes in the House, as the BJP demanded the remarks to be expunged but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said there was nothing in what the BSP supremo has said.

Jaitley and Maitreyan said the measure was earlier opposed by both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi when they were in the opposition.

Jaitley targeted the Prime Minister reminding him that as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha during the National Demoractic Alliance rule, Singh had strongly opposed FDI in retail.

Hitting out at DMK over the issue, Maitreyan said "If there is one party which believes in running with the hare and hunting with the hound, it is DMK."

While the DMK had voted with the government in the Lok Sabha during the debate on Wednesday, the SP and BSP had staged walk out.

All the three parties had spoken against the measure, a fact repeatedly highlighted by Jaitely during the debate on Thursday.

Jaitley also referred to NCP's announcement of not supporting FDI in multi-brand retail and reminded that DMK had participated in a Bharat bandh against the move.

Rejecting arguments in favour of the measure, Jaitley attacked the government saying their debate is based on "deception" and charged it with "concocting" figures by exaggerating the amount of waste and allowing hand over our food supply chain to foreigners.

He said the government was creating a "horror situation" about lack of cold storage chains to justify the need for FDI in the sector. "Is making cold chains impossible? It is not rocket science," he said, adding it was giving isolated examples in favour of the move.

He also raised questions on the continuation of the UPA government, saying it has failed to touch the figure of 272 and has fallen short of 18 of a majority in the Lower House.

"After this figure, you are a lame duck government" and questioned how much price the nation would have to pay for the decision of a "minority" government.

Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who was the first to speak on the issue on government's behalf, said the UPA has taken a "conscious decision" on FDI in multi-brand retail and "at this stage of economic development and growth permitting FDI is a national imperative".

Kumar said the move will be able to enlist a significant amount of investment in backyard infrastructure which is required to create warehouses and cold chains so that the produce of farmers do not go waste.

He also sought to remind Jaitley that the NDA Cabinet had taken a view in favour of FDI, which was rejected by Jaitley saying it was never so and was only a proposal.

Earlier, initiating the debate Maitreyan said that his party opposed this decision of the "minority" UPA government of allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, adding that it had failed to muster the support of 272 members in the Lok Sabha on the issue.

 He said the government's announcement of the measure was a clear case violation" of the solemn promise given to this House last year that an attempt will be made to build consensus on the issue.

Mayawati said the BSP wanted to boycott voting in the Rajya Sabha but this would have led to the passage of motion against FDI, thus giving Opposition space for "politicising" their victory and the House would have not functioned, where several important bills are pending.

Keeping these in mind, she said her party decided to support the government.

The BSP supremo launched a scathing attack on the BJP by accusing it of "misusing" the CBI when it was in power. "We are not afraid of the CBI....never have been afraid of CBI even in worst times," she said.

Mayawati said the BJP wanted to contest 2004 general elections with her party but she refused. She said that the BSP could form the government with BJP but cannot compromise ideology and contest election with them.

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