New Delhi: Rejecting the demand for referring Insurance Bill to a Select Committee, the government on Thursday said the Congress was 'stonewalling' the key reform measure to deny credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before he goes to the US.
Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman also said the government felt let down by the Congress stonewalling its own proposal to hike FDI in insurance to 49 percent from current 26 percent.
"Of course, there are whispers that it could be because they do not want to give credit to Modi before he goes to the US. I have reasons to suspect that is true. So, I can't see otherwise any substantial reason for them to say we oppose," she told PTI.
Sitharaman, however, hoped the Bill will be passed in the current session of Parliament which ends on August 14, saying the opposition to the Bill was crumbling and many parties like NCP are willing to support the Bill.
Congress, which had supported a hike in FDI cap when it was in power, now wants the Bill to be referred a Parliamentary Select Committee for threadbare examination of the issue since the government has brought some amendments.
"We don't see a need. How much time has been spent on it," she said when asked if there is a need to refer the Bill to a Select Committee.
"Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been talking to all the parties and I feel let down. The Congress party which opposed the Bill when first time NDA brought it in. And (subsequently) when they brought it in we opposed.
"Let us assume that the scores have settled. After we opposed, the Bill went to the Standing Committee and came back with many recommendations. The UPA government then accepted the recommendations made by the Standing Committee, incorporated all the changes. A changed, tweaked Bill was ready for being tabled in the (Rajya Sabha) House. They did not bring it," she said.
Sitharaman further said: "Today when that same Bill is being placed, they are finding excuses to say we are worried about this and that. Why did not these worries affect them earlier. Therefore, I have reasons to suspect that it is just a stonewalling, just for the sake of stonewalling."
Asked if this Bill can be passed by Parliament in the current session, she said: "We are very keen to have this Bill passed (this session). Let's see."
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget 2014-15 speech had said that the insurance sector was investment starved and there was a need to increase the composite cap in the sector to 49 percent, with full Indian management and control, through the FIPB route.
The approval to hike the FDI limit from the current 26 percent, a proposal which has been pending since 2008 in the Rajya Sabha, is expected to attract long-term capital, besides improving the overall investment climate.
Earlier this week, Jaitley had said the government is open to minor modifications in the Insurance Bill for its passage in the current session of Parliament.
The three options, which Jaitley had presented before the Opposition is to approve the Bill in the present form since it was the UPA government which had earlier proposed hiking the foreign investment cap to 49 percent.
"Alternatively, if UPA has changed its mind they can participate in defeating the Bill in which case, one House will approve it and the other House will disapprove it," he had said, adding that the third option was that UPA should suggest if they want to make any minor modifications.
"The only fourth possibility is to do nothing, but keep hanging, for which I am afraid there is no rationale which I can understand," Jaitley had said.
Apart from Congress, CPI-M, CPI, SP, BSP, DMK, JD (U), Trinamool Congress and RJD oppose the Bill.
They have given a notice to the Chairman of the Upper House Hamid Ansari for referring the controversial Bill to a Select Committee.
