New Delhi:
Immediately after putting the UPA government in a minority in Parliament, the Trinamool Congress said it doesn't want to push for a vote of confidence. What it wants is a "vote on FDI", referring to the decision of the government permitting foreign investment in retail as part of its reforms push.
"FDI in retail should be discussed in Parliament... I am not going to say anything regarding the comments of the political parties... They are all opposing the FDI," said Trinamool Congress' Mukul Roy.
Technically, there can't be a vote on FDI since it is not a legislation going through Parliament. It is a policy decision taken by the Union cabinet.
What the Trinamool Congress most likely is looking for is a "sense of the House" resolution. This doesn't entail a vote but puts the positions of political parties in public. And since there is no vote, there is no danger of the government falling if the resolution goes against it. But it can be politically embarrassing if this does happen. The Left and BJP too have referred to a sense of the House on the government's decision.
The guiding logic for the Trinamool Congress' likely demand for a "sense of the House" resolution could be the fact that party chief Mamata Banerjee has referenced several times to the fact that in the winter session of Parliament in 2011, then-finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that FDI in retail will wait till there is consensus. After this, FDI in retail had been put into the deepfreezer, only to be sprung as a surprise last week, sending the government spiralling to the edge of collapse, till it was pulled back by the Samajwadi Party.
"FDI in retail should be discussed in Parliament... I am not going to say anything regarding the comments of the political parties... They are all opposing the FDI," said Trinamool Congress' Mukul Roy.
Technically, there can't be a vote on FDI since it is not a legislation going through Parliament. It is a policy decision taken by the Union cabinet.
What the Trinamool Congress most likely is looking for is a "sense of the House" resolution. This doesn't entail a vote but puts the positions of political parties in public. And since there is no vote, there is no danger of the government falling if the resolution goes against it. But it can be politically embarrassing if this does happen. The Left and BJP too have referred to a sense of the House on the government's decision.
The guiding logic for the Trinamool Congress' likely demand for a "sense of the House" resolution could be the fact that party chief Mamata Banerjee has referenced several times to the fact that in the winter session of Parliament in 2011, then-finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that FDI in retail will wait till there is consensus. After this, FDI in retail had been put into the deepfreezer, only to be sprung as a surprise last week, sending the government spiralling to the edge of collapse, till it was pulled back by the Samajwadi Party.
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