BJP senior leader and Rajya Sabha member M Venkaiah Naidu demanded that the Congress-led UPA government should seek people’s mandate by inviting mid-term elections to Parliament in the backdrop of opposition from all the political parties to the government’s decision on foreign direct investment (FDI) into retail market.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, the BJP leader said that the UPA constituents should declare their stand on the central government’s decision. “UPA supporters should decide whether they support an anti-people decision or people’s movement on FDI issues,” Naidu said.
He said the UPA government misled Parliament by taking speedy decision on FDI issue, and reneged on its earlier promise made by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Venkaiah Naidu recalled that Pranab Mukherjee had made statement on December 7 in the Lok Sabha in 2011 that the government would take decision only after consulting all the stakeholders, chief ministers and political parties. Commerce, Industry and Textile minister Anand Sharma made similar statement in Rajya Sabha, he added. He said that 18 states and all the opposition parties are totally against FDIs. “We demand that the government should step down immediately,” Naidu said.
He said the UPA government is taking hasty and anti-people decision because it is confident that it will not come to power again. “BJP welcomes economic reforms, but UPA’s reforms are giving negative results,” he explained. He questioned why the government failed to implement economic reforms in the last eight years.
“UPA want to divert the people’s attention from its corruption activity,” he remarked. He said, even in US, FDIs are not allowed in New York city and UK is facing negative results of such reforms now. BJP national secretary Dr K Laxman, former Union minister for state B Dattatreya, BJP state unit general secretary N Ramchandar Rao were also present at the press conference.