Advani: BJP can't ignore huge retailers' constituency affected by retail FDI

New Delhi: BJP leader LK Advani today attacked the government on its decision to allow FDI in retail sector, saying it will put millions of retailers out of jobs and that his party cannot disregard the huge constituency of millions of retailers. Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, he said the BJP had always opposed the entry of FDI in retail and that he did not remember how the issue of allowing FDI came up in the NDA document. [caption id=“attachment_147329” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The veteran BJP leader said he does not remember how the issue of allowing FDI came up in the NDA document. Reuters”] [/caption] “I see no reason why the government decided on FDI in retail knowing fully well that a large section of people will get affected. To give an impression that FDI in retail will solve all problems like inflation, price rise, unemployment… whosoever is saying this is fooling people that FDI will get millions of jobs. It cannot happen,” he said. “Similar tall claims were made three years ago at the time of the Indo-US nuclear deal. It will solve the problem of India’s acute power shortage, government leaders said in Parliament. I want to ask the Prime Minister on how many new nuclear plants has work begun in the past three years? How much nuclear power will be generated on a reasonable basis in the next ten years?” Advani said. PTI