FDI in multi-brand retail issue may face rough weather in RS

The issue of FDI in multi-brand retail trade may face rough weather in Rajya Sabha, when a statutory motion on the matter is taken up for vote in the ongoing session.
"If all those (parties) who joined us on the streets to protest the allowing of FDI in multi-brand retail trade vote with us in the Upper House, then the government is in a minority," senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told a press conference here.
Yechury, who has moved the statutory motion in Rajya Sabha, said the motion was part of the agenda for the ongoing session and it "has to be disposed of by the end of this session... (and) voting has to happen".

The motion, which seeks to amend the FEMA notification which permits FDI in multi-brand retail, has been accepted by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari.
Maintaining that the government has not spoken to the Left parties on the pending bills to open up the pension and insurance sectors to FDI, Yechury said there have been talks between leaders of the ruling Congress and main Opposition BJP on these issues.
He also claimed that the two parties had "come to some sort of understanding" to allow these controversial measures to be enacted.

Maintaining that the government wanted the Food Security and Land Acquisition bills to be adopted in this session itself, he said, "It seems the government is in a hurry to prepare for elections... There is a lot of speculation that this is the last session."

Referring to the process that included passage of a resolution in the Andhra assembly and adoption of a Constitution amendment bill in Parliament, he said, "But it has made a lot of promises. If it wants to give effect to these measures and fulfil promises like creating a separate Telangana, they will require another session to pass the Bill."
Yechury also said that legislative measures should also be taken to annul the recent Supreme Court ruling against reservation for OBCs/SCs and STs in AIIMS.