New Delhi, Nov 26: Both Houses of Parliament on Monday continued to remain in stalemate as proceedings were paralysed for third successive day on the issue of permitting FDI in retail and a solution eluded the Government after an all party meeting failed to arrive at a consensus on the issue.
 The Government, however, got much needed relief as both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party concurred to give much needed space to the ruling dispensation at an all party meeting held on Monday. The two parties agreed that they will not insist on debate with a voting provision as is being demanded by BJP led NDA and some other parties.
 The meeting convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath saw an unrelenting BJP and its supporting parties insisting on a debate under rules with voting provision. “There is no change in our stand,” senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said after the meeting.
 Nath set the tone for the meeting by maintain that the Government was not averse to a vote on FDI issue. But at the same time he clarified that it was not a healthy trend. “If we cannot convince the opposition, we will consider a vote on FDI,” he said but remained non-committal after the meeting.
 "BJP has decided very firmly and there will be no compromise...we want a discussion that ends with a vote in Lok Sabha under Rule 184, and under Rule 167 in Rajya Sabha. We will only state our opinion only in Parliament; it won't function till the government agrees on a vote," another senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said.
  The SP and the BSP, both supporting the government from outside and whose numbers are crucial to see a possible vote through, said that they wanted a discussion, leaving it to the Speaker of Lok Sabha to decide on the requirement of voting. But their support could leave the government facing another political problem as BSP wants the Bill on quota in government job promotions to be tabled in Parliament first.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST