BSP to vote in favour of FDI in retail: Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday promised to vote in favour of FDI in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian Parliament), giving much relief to the government which is bracing for a crucial vote on Friday, even as Bharatiya Janata Party and AIADMK attacked parties which sided with ruling coalition UPA despite having reservations over the measure.

A day after the Opposition motion seeking rollback of the decision was rejected convincingly in Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament), the Upper House took up the debate with opposition attacking the decision saying it would hurt the poor.

"We have decided to vote in favour of government on FDI in multi-brand retail issue tomorrow," BSP chief Mayawati, whose party has 15 members in the Rajya Sabha, said participating in the debate. The party had on Wednesday staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha, helping bail out the government in the vote.

Mayawati said her party has decided to support the government because the FDI policy "has a plus point as it is not binding on states and they are free to implement it."

AIADMK member V Maitreyan initiated the discussion and made a strong demand for withdrawing the decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.

Maitreyan and Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley earlier attacked BSP as also Samajwadi Party, DMK and Nationalist Congress Party for helping the government in voting despite reservations to the policy.

BSP was the main target of Jaitley who said, "You know that this policy is harmful to the country. If you are willing to proclaim, you should be willing to strike."

Mayawati reacted sharply to the remarks that her party was helping the government under CBI pressure saying the main Opposition party is leveling such allegations after it found out that "grapes were sour" as its game plan did not succeed.

Her remarks led to noisy scenes in the House as BJP demanded the remarks to be expunged but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said there was nothing unparliamentary in what the BSP supremo has said.