FDI in multi-brand retail to benefit only capitalists: CPI

PATNA: Lambasting UPA for allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta today said the decision will help only capitalists and not the farmers and consumers in the country.

The UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh has allowed FDI in multi-brand retail to enable capitalists reap profit from investment in the sector and not to benefit the farmers and consumers as was being claimed by the protagonists of the reform process, Dasgupta said at the party's state executive meeting.

He also assailed the UPA government's decisions like diesel price hike, rationing of subsidised LPG cylinders and said that the decisions were 'anti-people' and 'pro-capitalist' against which his party will launch agitation next month.

Dasgupta also attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for wooing capitalists for the state's industrial development and said the NDA government was no different from the UPA government at the Centre as both have been 'equally insensitive' to the plight of the people.