Retail FDI: SP, BSP bail out UPA in Rajya Sabha also

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government today opened the floodgates of economic reforms with a winning a vote for foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail trade in the Rajya Sabha as well, paving way for global retailers like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco to set up stores in India.

The UPA, which managed to secure majority support for retail FDI in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, managed a win in the Rajya Sabha as well with help from Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

With both SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP's Mayawati openly supporting the UPA government against the opposition at the voting, UPA's win in the Rajya Sabha too was a forgone conclusion.

While MPs belonging to Mulayam Singh's party staged a walkout just minutes before the voting, Mayawati opted to vote in favour of the UPA government.

The opposition motion got support of 109 members while 123 MPs voted against it and one member abstained from voting. The Rajya Sabha had 234 members at the time of voting after the Samajwadi Party walked out.

This leaves one vote unregistered and there was in fact some commotion over it.