CWC charts govt’s plan on FDI in retail
26 Sep 2012 12:25 AM GMT
The Congress Working Committee [CWC] met on Thursday to take stock of the damage caused to the government with the withdrawal of the Trinamool Congress from the United Progressive Alliance [UPA] and the damage control measures taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team. Its decision to seamlessly back Singh on reforms indicated that he always had the backing of the party and its chief Sonia Gandhi.
There was a general consensus in the CWC that though numbers could be managed, attempt by the Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to play a martyr could bring a bad name for the government's economic policies. Banerjee has announced that she will protest in Delhi on 1 October against foreign direct investment [FDI] in multi-brand retail.
To counter Banerjee's juggernaut and the opposition taking on the government, the Congress has planned to hold rallies in the states ruled by it to sell the FDI decision to people. On 21 September, Millennium Post had reported about the Congress' plan to hold nationwide farmer-intensive rallies in at least three states.
While the CWC backed the prime minister on economic reforms, Gandhi slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] for playing 'negative politics' on the issue of the Trinamool Congress pulling out from the government. She told the CWC, 'The government is stable. There is no threat to the government.'
Countering her, the BJP leader Rajnath Singh later said, 'The Congress party is trying to create similar situation in the country which was prevalent during the pre-independence era when the East India Company came to India and slowly made the entire country its slave. However, the BJP which is a responsible opposition party would not allow the Congress to do so.'
The meeting was held at Gandhi's residence at 10, Janpath, and attended by the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Prime minister Manmohan Singh among other. The Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was summoned for this meet, which reflects the party's mood to hold rallies starting from a district level.
There was a general consensus in the CWC that though numbers could be managed, attempt by the Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to play a martyr could bring a bad name for the government's economic policies. Banerjee has announced that she will protest in Delhi on 1 October against foreign direct investment [FDI] in multi-brand retail.
To counter Banerjee's juggernaut and the opposition taking on the government, the Congress has planned to hold rallies in the states ruled by it to sell the FDI decision to people. On 21 September, Millennium Post had reported about the Congress' plan to hold nationwide farmer-intensive rallies in at least three states.
While the CWC backed the prime minister on economic reforms, Gandhi slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] for playing 'negative politics' on the issue of the Trinamool Congress pulling out from the government. She told the CWC, 'The government is stable. There is no threat to the government.'
Countering her, the BJP leader Rajnath Singh later said, 'The Congress party is trying to create similar situation in the country which was prevalent during the pre-independence era when the East India Company came to India and slowly made the entire country its slave. However, the BJP which is a responsible opposition party would not allow the Congress to do so.'
The meeting was held at Gandhi's residence at 10, Janpath, and attended by the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Prime minister Manmohan Singh among other. The Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was summoned for this meet, which reflects the party's mood to hold rallies starting from a district level.
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