Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that he met Wal-Mart officials in Kolkata on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s recommendation.
The revelation comes at a time when Bhattacharjee?s party is strongly opposed to foreign direct investment (FDI) in retailing.
Bhattacharjee is widely seen as the most liberal member of the CPI-M politburo. And that makes him arguably the most suitable politician to talk to companies like Wal-Mart.
And the Congress hopes that the best way to convince its allies is by roping in this man to lead the campaign.
In Kolkata, Manmohan Singh had announced the withdrawal of Press Note 18 despite resistance from the Left.
And within minutes of that announcement, the Bengal chief minister had strongly pitched for foreign investments in his state.
Press Note 18 had sought to protect the interest of an Indian partner in a foreign collaboration agreement involving setting up of an industry in India by requiring his prior approval before the foreign partner could venture into a competing industry on his own or in collaboration with someone else.
Bhattacharjee today is a closer ally of the Congress than his party, however much he and his colleagues in the CPI-M might deny.
It is reasonable to expect that having taken the famously counter-intuitive decision to ensure that industries like IT and IT-enabled services can work without interruption through strikes and bandhs, Bhattacharjee will sign up FDI in retail, even if he opts to limit its entry to specific segments.
The CPI-M has in principle accepted that changes are needed in the management of pension funds, as it has accepted that new airports can be built and roads developed with foreign funds.
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