Will oppose FDI in defence in Parliament: Congress

Shimla: Congress on Wednesday denounced the Modi government's decision to allow 100 per cent FDI in defence sector by easing norms and said that and his party would oppose the move in Parliament.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was working under pressure from the US. 

"The Congress government had allowed FDI in defence with a pre-condition that it would be for state-of-the-art-technology but the present government has eased the conditions. The Prime Minister is working under pressure from the United States. This is not in the country's interest and Congress would oppose it in Parliament," he told media persons here.

"The Reserve Bank of India would issue a notification under FEMA on easing FDI norms which would be ratified by Parliament and Congress would oppose it at that stage," he said.

Sharma questioned "on what basis BJP was celebrating its two years in office when over the last two years, FDI saw a decline, exports gone down, industrial production fell and the government miserably failed to generate employment".

He accused the Modi government of unleashing a "political vendetta" against Congress, trying to destabilise Congress' governments in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and toppling the party-led government in Arunachal Pradesh in a bid to accomplish its agenda of a 'Congress-free India'".

"The NDA government is totally insensitive towards the agriculture sector. Farmers are committing suicides, but instead of visiting the affected villages, the Modi government is busy celebrating its achievements, which are nowhere visible on the ground," he said.

Asked about his party's stand on GST, Sharma said: "Such issues should be resolved with the consent of all parties and not by vote."

Replying to another query, he said he was not in run for post of the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

In defence sector, the government has tweaked policy to allow 100 per cent FDI by doing away with the condition of access to "state of the art" technology and modified to "modern or for other reasons".

The earlier policy allowed FDI beyond 49 per cent under the approval route on a case-to-case basis subject to the condition that it would result in access to modern and state-of-art technology in the country.

FDI limit for defence sector has also been made applicable to manufacturing of small arms and ammunition covered under the Arms Act, 1959.