Just a day after Trinamool Congress (TMC), a key ally of the UPA government, withdrew its support over the issues of foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and hike in diesel prices, Union minister for commerce and textile Anand Sharma today ruled out any possibility of rollback of government's decision over allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
Sharma, who was in Ahmedabad for a function on Wednesday, also urged his former colleague and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, to 'reflect and ponder' over her decision.
TMC lead by Banerjee had on Tuesday announced their party's withdrawal from the Congerss-led UPA under protest over issue of FDI in multi-brand retail. All TMC minister have been asked to resign from their resepective posts in the government on Friday.
"The word rollback is not in our dictionary. The decision on allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail was taken last year along with permitting 100 per cent FDI in single brand retail. The FDI in single-brand retail was notified, but decision one FDI in multi-brand retail was put under suspension (over opposition from various parties including TMC)," Sharma said addressing a press conference at the state Congress headquarters here.
He said that after the implementation was suspended another round of consultation with states was held. "And after that a considered view to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, was taken based on strong demands from states," the minister said.
"The reaction (of Mamata) has been unfortunate and unclear. But I will still urge her to reflect and ponder," Sharma requested.
He said that in the spirit of constitution of India, Center has to respect the demands of all the state in a Federal structure. "She wanted that states should be able to make their choice with regard to FDI, this has been done," he added.
Sharma opined that the policy of the Union government on FDI multi-brand retail was an enabling one and its implementation was left out to the wisdom of the states.
The minister also justified the recent hike in diesel prices by saying that it was because of the high brent crude prices in the international market. On comparison of petrol and diesel prices during BJP-led NDA rule, Sharma said, "Brent crude today costs around $115 per barrel. During NDA regime brent crude price was around $43 per barrel. Throughout the NDA tenure it was between $28 and $43."
He further said that if the states with high VAT on fuel prices like Gujarat were to reduce the tax, the prices of petrol and diesel could come down. Gujarat charges 24.5 per cent VAT on diesel.
