Not dictated by any country on FDI: PM

Ruling out the opposition charge of taking decisions in the favour of United State of America (USA), Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Saturday said that economic reforms were not a one-off but a continuous process and were not dictated by "other countries".

"We are not the country to be dictated by other countries," PM Singh told to reporters while responding over the allegation of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), which has criticised the latest decision of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, citing that Prime Minister takes a decision only when there is pressure from America.

Earlier, Senior BJP leader Balbir Punj Saturday said, "Whoever has seen the tenure of Manmohan Singh in UPA-I and UPA-II properly, they know it very clearly that the Prime Minister takes a stand only when there is pressure from America. During UPA-I when the nuclear deal took place, he put his prestige and his government's existence at stake. Even now in the last three years, nobody has seen him talking," said Punj.

"And all of a sudden the decision to allow FDI in retail was taken and it was notified, whereas the government had in November 2011 through the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is now the President of India, assured that all stakeholders will be consulted before a final decision is taken," he added.

Punj further said the Prime Minister did not think of the assurance made to the Parliament and withdrew from the promises made.

"Under whose pressure did he take this decision? Everybody knows that the decision was taken under American pressure," he added.

Prime Minister in this response said, "We will do what is good for the country...reforms are not a one-off process."

Replying to a question on the Supreme Court's opinion that auction was not the sole method of allocating natural resources, Manmohan Singh said, "We will honour and respect the judgement. We welcome it."

On the Kelkar committee report on fiscal reforms, the prime minister said that it has been put on the website.

On the other contentious issues, Manmohan Singh said, "We are far away from election. We can discuss anything."

The prime minister said that he was not bitter about anything.