Antony meets Mamata to convince on FDI in retail

Kolkata: Defence Minister AK Antony held an hour-long meeting here with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the backdrop of the Trinamool Congress’ stiff opposition to FDI in multibrand retail, forward trading and pension bills. Neither Antony nor Banerjee briefed the press about the deliberations when hordes of scribes sought their comments on what they discussed at the Writers’ Buildings. [caption id=“attachment_422417” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Will she relent? PTI[/caption]UPA is seeking the TMC’s nod to FDI in multibrand retail and other key reforms and the meeting came ahead of the next UPA coordination committee meeting expected to be held later this month in Delhi. Antony, however, said the defence ministry would provide all support to the state government in its Ganga riverbank beautification scheme in the city. Later, Banerjee told reporters that she had discussed with Antony the issue of obtaining army concurrence on the twin upcoming Metro rail projects in the city whose alignments fell on land belonging to the defence department. PTI