Chennai: Accusing the UPA government of being responsible for the stalemate in Parliament, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said his party was not interested in bringing down the Manmohan Singh ministry and only wanted to force it to withdraw its decision allowing FDI retail.
"Our effort is not to bring down the government but to force it to roll back the decision on FDI in retail trade," he told reporters here. "There is no question of opposition relenting on this. We want a debate on the issue through an adjournment motion with voting. If the government has sufficient numbers, why should oppose the motion with voting? Is it an open admission that it does not have sufficient numbers?` he said.
Naidu charged the UPA government with being responsible for the present logjam in Parliament on FDI in retail issue. "We want a debate in Parliament on the issue. Why is the government afraid of it?` he added.
The Centre`s decision was being opposed by DMK and Trinamool Congress, key constituents of UPA, besides BSP and Samjawadi party, extending outside support to it, he said.
"This is an acid test for all these parties, particularly for the parties which are under pressure from the Prime Minister to revise their stand", he said referring to Singh reaching out to DMK and TMC to support the decision on FDI.
He alleged the Centre had unilaterally decided to allow FDI in multi-brand retail trade only to divert the people`s attention from various scams, price rise, its `inability` to unearth black money and inflation. Naidu said there was no unanimity within the government on the FDI issue as there were dissensions even in Congress with some of its MPs opposing the decision.
He said the government should explain why it hurried with the decision on the important issue when Parlaiment was in session.
He said the Prime Minister was "adamant" on going ahead with the decision. "Dr Singh is maintaining silence. He is not attending Parliament, all-party meet convened by the government. At whose behest is he doing this? Is it because of the pressure from United States or something else? He needs to explain this", Naidu said.
He said even in the US, retail major Wallmart was not present in major cities like New York as the administrtion wanted to protect retail traders there. India had crores of retail traders and if FDI was allowed in the sector, they would be deprieved of their livelihood, he said.
On Mullaperiyar Dam issue, he said the Centre should convene a meeting of Tamil Nadu and Kerala officials to arrive at an amicable solution.
PTI