New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday accused the government of using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to browbeat leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The two parties, despite criticising the government’s decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, opted to walk out of the Lok Sabha, helping the government scrap through in the voting that followed two-day a debate that ended Tuesday.
“It is not a question of BJP, this is not a communal issue. But the problem has now become FDI vs CBI,” Swaraj, also leader of opposition said. Both SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP president Mayawati are accused in corruption cases being probed by the CBI.
There are indications that while the SP would help the government, which is in a clear minority in the Rajya Sabha, it would again walk out when the opposition-sponsored motion against allowing FDI in retails is put to vote on Friday.
And BSP may bail out the government by voting in favour of the government.
Support of the two Uttar Pradesh-centric parties, which have a combined strength of 43, is crucial for the survival of the Manmohan Singh government that was reduced to a minority following September withdrawal of support by Trinamool Congress.
Mulayam, however, defended his decision to stage a walk out saying “the government has insulted farmers and small shops.” Swaraj, however, was quick to target both the parties saying: “How vociferously Mulayam had opposed FDI, if he had voted with us, FDI would not have been implemented.”
For the second day, lively debate was witnessed in the Lok Sabha. While opposition and the treasury benches took jibes at each other, trying to brandish themselves as the champions of the masses, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat through the debate without uttering a word.
Though Singh is not entitled to vote in the Lok Sabha, since he is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the government preferred to ask Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to reply to the debate.
He deflected the opposition charge that all stakeholders were not consulted before taking the crucial decision and the government had gone back on not passing the bill without consultation.
