NDA committed to smooth functioning of Parliament: BJP

There was a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) today, to discuss their strategy going into the Budget session tomorrow. Piyush Goyal, National Treasurer, BJP told CNBC-TV18 that the NDA is committed to the smooth functioning of the Parliament. "The responsibility solely rests with the government of the day and it is their responsibility not to vitiate the atmosphere", he added.

MP, Derek O'Brien of TMC, who was present in the meeting of the Parliamentary Affairs Minister and chief whips of various parties, feels the basic issue of corruption and dull economic growth needs to be highlighted. He also clarified that his party is not against FDI, but against FDI in multi-brand retail. Below is the verbatim transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18 Q: Can we expect any business to get done this time around or is it going to be a washout of a session? Goyal: Let me assure you that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the NDA are committed to the smooth functioning of parliament. We are very keen, it is an important session. It is a Budget session, a session when the President of India initiates the policy of the government. We are very keen that the session runs well. However, the responsibility solely rests with the government of the day. They should not vitiate the atmosphere with comments, such as the one made by the honorable Home Minister. Q: Are you willing to forgive and forget Sushil Kumar Shinde because I understand that a draft apology note has been accepted by the NDA and by the BJP? Goyal: I am not privy to that draft apology note. However, if it is clearly withdrawn that comment vis-à-vis the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP then I am sure there should not be any problem. We shall be happy to proceed with other pressing issues before Parliament includes the issue of corruption in the chopper deal. Q: You are the Chief Whip of the TMC. There was a meeting held by the parliamentary affairs minister with the chief whips (of various parties) yesterday. What is your own sense? O'Brien: There is so much to bring up, there is the basic issues of corruption, anti-people polices of this government, economy, there is so much to bring up. However, to be specific we have been extremely consistent. In fact we put our money where are mouth is because we walked out of government on the issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail. Since I am on your business channel after such a long, let me clarify we are not against FDI in principle. Our issue was with FDI in retail. I spoke in the Rajya Sabha and my colleague Professor Soumitra Roy spoke in the Lok Sabha. We made it quite clear as to why we were opposed and what were the reasons of being opposed. Q: I understand your opposition but are you going to push for a vote on FDI in retail in the Rajya Sabha like you did in the Lok Sabha? O’Brien: We are the only party which even moved a vote of no confidence. We walked out with our six ministers, one Cabinet Minister including our Railway Minister and five ministers of state. We walked out because, 1) FDI in retail and how it affected the traders, 2) we walked out on diesel and petrol hike and LPG cylinder and 3) the fertilizer subsidies and the fertiliser pricing being cut. So, on these four issues we walked out of a government. We were serious about this and that is why we walked out of government.