Barasat, West Bengal:
Just hours after Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said in Kolkata that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee would realise Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail will be a win-win situation if properly explained to her, the West Bengal chief minister asserted she remains firmly opposed to the reform.
"Mamata Banerjee is intelligent, but retail FDI argument is very complex. If it is explained to her, then she will understand it is a win-win situation for the people of Bengal," Mr Basu had said in an interactive session at the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.
Reacting to Mr Basu's comments, Ms Banerjee said, "I do things which I decide... We do not want entry of multi-brand FDI in retail. We will not accept and this is our government's policy". FDI in retail was stalled after the Trinamool, UPA's key partner, along with some opposition parties had, last year, opposed the move.
The reiteration of Ms Banerjee's stand on FDI comes during her cold war with the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre over the Presidential candidate. The Congress and its candidate for President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, have appealed to Ms Banerjee to vote for him in the election on July 19. She had campaigned heavily for a second term for former President APJ Kalam, but he decided not to run. Ms Banerjee has said her decision on who to support will be taken 72 hours before the election. She is the only ally of the Congress who has not offered her support to Mr Mukherjee, who will take on PA Sangma in the election.
Ms Banerjee yesterday also wrote an angry letter to Mr Chidambaram after he was critical of the Trinamool government, saying that 82 people were killed in 455 cases of inter-party clashes in the last six months which was 'a matter of concern'. This had led to Ms Banerjee's party calling it a 'threat'. Quoting statistics, Mr Chidambaram, addressing the members of Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, said 1,112 people were also injured in the inter-party clashes which was "a matter of concern and should come to an end". Ms Banerjee in her letter to Mr Chidambaram described the statistics as "incorrect".
Earlier today, Ms Banerjee also fired a salvo at 'so-called political leaders having no spines' and suggested 'research' on the phenomenon.
"Nowadays, I am not surprised, when I see a growing number of so-called political leaders having no spines. In my opinion, it has become a potential area of doing research on this aspect," she said in her latest Facebook post.