FDI in retail: Won’t alter adjournment motion on retail FDI, says Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: BJP on Tuesday said the content of its adjournment motion on retail was non-negotiable. The party is demanding a rollback of the Cabinet decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. “There is no question of altering the language of the resolution,” leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley — said at a press conference after an allparty meeting failed to evolve a consensus on the issue. BJP had, last week, agreed to modify the language of its adjournment motion on black money.

This had ended the government-Opposition standoff on the issue, with the government agreeing to accept the motion. However, BJP made it clear that as far as the adjournment motion on FDI in retail was concerned, the Opposition was seeking a withdrawal of the decision. “We are not on the negotiating table,” Swaraj said.

With Congress allies like the Trinamool, DMK, IUML and outside supporters — SP and BSP — opposing FDI in retail at the allparty meeting, the Opposition is hopeful that a sense of the House would go against the Cabinet decision. “Their views should translate into votes,” Swaraj said.

On the stand of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which had written to commerce minister Anand Sharma welcoming foreign direct investment in retail, Swaraj claimed the NDA constituent would back the motion if there was a vote in Parliament. Asked what if the motion was defeated, she said “then the government has the majority on its side to go ahead with it”.