The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday alleged that the Congress led UPA government was indifferent to Parliament.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu said that the UPA Government has not done homework and lacks commitment to run the Parliament smoothly. Its consistence on issues is also adding to the problem, he said. “Its incompetence of not being able to take the allies on board, follow the coalition dharma, pursue the consultation process are responsible for present state of affairs. After four days of wasting precious time of Parliament, the Prime Minister says that they are now confident of numbers and are not averse to vote,” he said.
Venkaiah Naidu said that the UPA government, which gave an assurance to the Parliament on 7th December 2011 that the decision to permit 51 per cent FDI in retail trade was suspended till a consensus was developed through consultations, has betrayed the Parliament and took unilateral decision and issued notification that too even after the Trinamool Congress withdrew its support and the government reduced to minority. “First mistake was the betrayal of the Parliament and the second is their meaningless argument that it is an executive decision and that there is no need for Parliaments’ nod and hence their opposition for voting,” he said.
The BJP leader said if it was an executive decision, then, why have they given assurance to Parliament? Secondly, they argue that insistence for voting sets up a wrong precedent. He said during the NDA regime in 2000, on Balco disinvestment, though it was an executive decision, they insisted that it had to be discussed and voted. The NDA government promptly agreed and discussed the issue under 184 and voting had taken place. Both the Congress and the Left voted against the decision, he said.
“Another classic example of their inconsistency is that the Congress, as an opposition party in 2002 had opposed the FDI in retail. Both Sri Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and Dr Manmohan Singh went on record saying that FDI in retail trade was against the interest of the country. But now the same Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister says it is in the interest of the country,” Venkaiah Naidu said.
The BJP leader also accused the UPA of not following the coalition dharma. He said while the Trinamool Congress left the alliance immediately after the announcement of FDI policy, other allies or supporting parties like DMK, SP and BSP have stated that they were not consulted and opposed the move openly.
Venkaiah Naidu asked the UPA to explain as to why it wasted four precious days of Parliament. “The Congress wasted one full session of the Parliament last year also and finally at the end agreed for JPC on 2G. This indecision is costing the nation heavily,” he said.
He said that the BJP was opposed to the FDI in retail as it hurts the interest of the large section of population; the farmers, the retails traders and also the consumers. (INN)