Government in majority, has full authority to decide, Congress tells DMK

NEW DELHI: Government is in majority and has full authority to take decisions, Congress today said downplaying DMK's announcement that it would back any opposition-sponsored resolution in Parliament against allowing FDI in multi-brand retail.

"Government is not in minority. If some of our partners have concerns, we will continue to provide them the empirical evidence to allay their apprehensions. Same cycle was witnessed during the Indo-US nuclear deal", party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters in reply to a volley of questions on the issue.

Making it clear that the government has full authority to take decisions, Tewari said "at times when you break from the past, it is wrenching for some people."

Dubbing as "false propaganda" that FDI is detrimental to the interest of domestic business, he said the Priniple Secretary to Atal Behari Vajpayee, the late Brajesh Mishra, had also backed the nuclear deal signed by the UPA government.

He insisted that if India has to grow and reap the benefits of demographic dividend, decisions like FDI in retail were needed in larger and long-term interests of the country.

Tewari also cited the example of China to drive home the point that FDI in retail was a win-win situation for all concerned.

He claimed that since Beijing allowed 100 per cent FDI in retail in 1996, it has witnessed the setting up of 600 hyper markets and the retail shops have increased from 19 lakh to 25 lakh giving boost to employment. Similar is the experience in countries like Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and Chile.

Tewari's comments came hours after DMK, the second largest constituent of UPA, e government, saying it would back any opposition-sponsored resolution in Parliament against allowing FDI in retail even as two MPs from Jharkand withdrew support.