New Delhi, Oct 5: Sensing it may face difficulty in getting parliament's nod to its reforms push, the government Thursday said it will reach out to opposition parties, including the BJP, to evolve a consensus on bills, especially on allowing 49 percent foreign equity in the insurance sector.
"We will reach out to the opposition parties, including the principal opposition (BJP)," Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after the union cabinet approved legislative changes that will allow up to 49 percent foreign equity in pension sector and hike such limit in insurance to 49 percent from 26 percent.
The opposition came from the Left parties and former UPA ally Trinamool Congress even as the BJP did not clearly specify its stand.
Communist Party of India's D. Raja called the move as a "gamble" on people's lifelong savings.
His party's leader in Lok Sabha Gurudas Dasgupta said the government "has no right to play with people's hard earned money".
Chidambaram said BJP chief Nitin Gadkari had said on record that it was supporting the reform bills.
"The principal opposition is on record supporting the reforms... we take note of the BJP chief's statement that the party supports economic reforms other than FDI in multi-brand retail," said Chidambaram.
"We will go through the fine print before commenting on the bills," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
He said the BJP had caveats on the government's moves concerning overseas investment in pension and insurance sectors.
There has to be "sovereign guarantee" provisions in the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, he said, adding that "we support the FDI concept, but have caveats".
The UPA government is in working minority (though it claims support of over 300 out of the 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha) after former ally Trinamool Congress quit the alliance on the approval for 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail last month.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has called for a no-confidence motion against the government in the winter session of parliament.
Trinamool's former central minister Saugata Roy said the UPA government's decisions could not be supported even by parties that were at present extending outside support.
"We will oppose these decisions tooth and nail in every parliamentary fora possible. The government has taken the decision to please the foreign powers," he said.
Chidambaram said he has given a list of economic reform bills to be brought in the winter session of parliament in November to the two leaders of opposition in the Lok Sabha (Sushma Swaraj) and the Rajya Sabha (Arun Jaitley), respectively, "so the bills may be passed in parliament".
"Law-making is a process of negotiations and consultations...we will continue to engage all parties to get it passed," said Chidambaram.
He said the FDI cap in insurance sector was increased to 49 percent from 26 percent suggested by a parliamentary standing committee on finance, on the recommendation of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.
