Government may set up coordination panel to discuss policy decisions with allies

NEW DELHI: The government may constitute a coordination committee to discuss policy decisions within the ruling coalition before they are formalised, two senior leaders of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress party said.

The move follows stiff opposition by some of the constituents of the United Progressive Alliance to the government's recent decision to open up the country's retail sector to foreign investment.

The widespread protests have paralysed Parliament and put pressure on the government to reconsider its decision. The Trinamool Congress leaders said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told their party that the government will look into setting up such a platform soon.

A similar committee was set up during UPA's first term to coordinate with the Left parties, which supported the government from outside. Recent reports have suggested that the government has backtracked on the decision and is expected to make an official statement in Parliament on Wednesday, saying it will put the FDI policy on hold until there is a consensus.

In his meeting with allies last week, Singh had told them that it will be difficult to withdraw the decision and had urged them to vote with the government. A Trinamool Cabinet minister who attended these meetings said the prime minister has "categorically said that a coordination mechanism will be looked into". Trinamool had raised this issue first when petrol prices were hiked a month ago.

But while, its demand for better coordination was "only given a patient hearing" then, the government has decided to act on it now. The issue of the government taking allies into confidence was raised again in the meeting last week when the prime minister met coalition partners in a meeting over the FDI logjam.

While expressing his party's objections to the FDI in retail, railway minister Dinesh Trivedi of Trinamool had dissented on the Cabinet proposal. "West Bengal has a large number of farmers and we think FDI in retail will go against their interests," the Trinamool leader told ET.

Agreeing that the recent stand-off was embarrassing for the Congress party, he said it could have been avoided if the Trinamool's views were taken on board before arriving at the decision. "A working coordination committee could help in this regard," he said.

Mamata Banerjee had said in a recent interview that it was difficult for parties like hers to make their voice heard in Cabinet meetings where allied parties had only one or two representatives.