FDI negotiations intensify as Mamata acts stubborn

Intense negotiations and yet there are no sign of a climb down on FDI in retail. Not only the opposition, but also the key ally Mamata Banerjee is making matters worse for the government. The result of that is there is no political consensus on the move even after nine days of the cabinet decision, report CNBC-TV18's Elan Dutta and Rituparna Bhuyan.

Every stakeholder in the retail FDI debate is digging in his heels. On one hand, we saw Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee making it clear that executive decisions cannot be subject to parliamentary review. Mukherjee said, "This is an enabling provision. As far as the constitutional and legal scheme is concerned, this is a policy matter which can be executed by the executive itself. It doesn't require the approval of parliament."

While on the other hand, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha claimed that the government had no respect for parliament. He indicated, "Government is daring the opposition. They should talk inside parliament as the prime minister and finance minister has spoken on retail FDI outside parliament. Government does not have any respect for parliament."

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma also attempted to douse the fires. Meeting traders earlier today, he tried to convince them to accept the move, but India's shopkeepers are refusing to bite the bait.

Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of Confederation of All India Traders mentioned, "In principle, we are against. If the government wants to give us something, we have our national government meeting in Nagpur and we will consider it there." (Six member panel formed by commerce ministry to look into concerns of retail traders)

All of this pales before the tough reply from Kolkata. Maverick Mamata seemed to have spurned the prime minister saying that her party will not support the government on this issue. Her 18 MPs in the lower house can be a big threat, but she also said that the Trinamool does not want the government to fall. The congress certainly hopes so too.

Pawan Bansal of Parliamentary Affairs Minister said that Mamata is not a hindrance and they are optimistic that they can win her over.

With the BJP rejecting the government's offer for a debate on the matter without a formal vote, the government is running out of options. Given that parliament reconvenes next Wednesday, the government has next four days to bring around its allies and salvage the situation.