Retail FDI: Govt hopeful ahead of all-party meet

The government on Tuesday said it hoped that Wednesday's all-party meeting on FDI in retail issue will pave the way for smooth running of Parliament paralysed for the last two weeks.

"We hope that Parliament will run smoothly from Wednesday after the all-party meeting", Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said, suggesting there were no irritants after the government put on hold the decision.

Opposition parties BJP and CPI(M) on Tuesday gave no indication of relenting on their demand for complete roll back of the decision to allow FDI in retail, the issue which has caused the logjam.

JP and CPI(M) stuck to their positions even after the government told them that the controversial cabinet decision of allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent FDI in single brand retail was put on hold.