Why is Sonia Gandhi silent on FDI, questions Arun Jaitley

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Tuesday blamed Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her Congress General Secretary son Rahul for the FDI decision. Jaitley said that the decision on FDI was taken without bothering that it will hurt the interests of farmers, small traders as well as consumers, and would in no way help the economy.

"Everybody is well aware who holds power in the Congress. People have not heard the views of the Congress chief and the party general secretary, who the party considers its future leader," said Jaitley sarcastically. 

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party had always been in favour of economic reforms provided they are for the good of the people. He, however, said that FDI

in retail was not good for anybody. "All changes are not reforms. Some take us backwards," the BJP leader said. 

"The economy today is a real cause for concern. The rupee has been sliding. It has weakened. Nobody knows how much further it will slide… After 1991 the foreign investors felt India was an attractive destination for investment but not now. Even our own capitalists have now started moving out and investing abroad," he added.

Meanwhile, a strategy meeting of the BJP, chaired by party patriarch Lal Krishna Advani, felt the government should not consider it a prestige issue in refusing to rollback the FDI decision. Party sources pointed out that there have been eight to 10 precedents when the Union Cabinet withdrew its decisions.