FDI: Meira Kumar applies Rule 184, Parliament logjam ends

New Delhi, Nov 29: Finally, some business will happen inside the

. The deadlock on debate and voting on Foreign Direct Investment (

) in retail, as demanded by opposition parties, has ended on Thursday, Nov 29.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar allowed FDI debate under Rule 184 that entails voting.

"I have allowed a debate on FDI retail under Rule 184," the Speaker said. Kumar was responding to notices submitted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for a debate on the issue, even as she chose to declare the date and time of the discussion later.

Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj thanked the speaker for allowing a debate and voting on FDI. She assured smooth functioning of House.

Earlier, at the beginning of the business for the day, Sushma Swaraj had threatened that Lok Sabha will function only if govt agreed to discuss the FDI issue under the rule entailing voting.

Both houses of parliament have been seeing disruptions since winter session began on Nov 22, with the opposition adamant on a debate on the issue under rule that entails voting.

At a time when political analysts were predicting a complete washout of winter session of Parliament over FDI issue, the latest position of DMK has changed the entire debate in favour of Congress-led UPA government.

On Wednesday, Nov 28 Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath met Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley. According to sources, leaders decided that Parliament should function and the discussion on FDI would be put to vote.

OneIndia News