SP to oppose Insurance Bill

Samajwadi Party today maintained its opposition to the controversial Insurance Bill.
"The party is going to oppose it," SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav told media outside Parliament House, when asked about the party's stand on the Bill slated to come up in Rajya Sabha this week.
Asked whether the SP would reconsider its decision if the government brings in changes in the Bill's provisions, Yadav said, "I would see what are those changes."
The Bill, the first major reform measure by the NDA government, aims to raise foreign direct investment cap in insurance sector to 49 per cent from existing 26 per cent.

The controversial Bill, which was listed in Rajya Sabha yesterday, was deferred for consideration for the time being after a meeting of the government with opposition leaders failed to break the deadlock in the face of the demand to send it to a Select Committee.
The meeting, convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday, could not iron out differences with the opposition despite Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's plea that the current bill has virtually the same language and content as the previous bill of the Congress-led UPA.