In an ironical twist, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which was opposed to the United Progressive Alliance-mooted Insurance Laws Amendments Bill, would now need the Congress’ support on a similar proposal with one change.
The Manmohan Singh government tried unsuccessfully from 2008 to persuade the BJP to vote in favour of the Insurance Laws Amendments Bill, 2008 as part of its big ticket economic reforms. Towards the end of the last Lok Sabha, the BJP had veered round in favour of the bill with a rider that management control should be in the hands of Indian promoters.
A senior leader of the Congress said his party was committed to raising the FDI cap in insurance to 49 per cent. At the same time, the leader said that the Congress would take a view after looking at the fine-print of the amendments proposed by the NDA.
After presentation of the Union Budget by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had pointed out that the imprint of the UPA government’s policies could be found throughout the speech and in the Budget documents.
Test for Modi regimeIt would be yet another test for the Modi government in the Rajya Sabha, where it is in a hopeless minority, to get the amended Insurance Laws Amendments Bill approved.
