Prakash Karat & Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee: In sync

Calcutta, April 29: CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and Bengal industries minister Nirupam Sen today indicated that the state would not go the Kerala way in reining in Indian retail giants despite the call for a “regulatory framework” at the Coimbatore party congress.

“I have not applied my mind to this issue. Neither have I gone through what the Kerala government has done on retail nor has it been discussed in the state party. So I can’t say whether similar action is needed here or not,’’ Sen told The Telegraph, indicating that the Bengal CPM would like to go slow on the issue.

In this year’s Kerala budget, finance minister Tomas Issac has imposed a 10 per cent surcharge on big retail and direct marketing chains that source over 50 per cent of their goods from other states.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government is known to be inclined towards corporate entry in retail, but his Kerala counterpart, V.S. Achuthanandan, has reservati-ons about the private sector.

Although Issac asked for a “one-party, one-line” policy at the congress and urged that industrialisation be made a goal in Kerala, in Bengal style, his budget said: “Imposition of additional levies on the big chains coming into the retail sector has been demanded by almost all sections of society.”

The political organisation report of the congress, which dwelt on the policy guidelines for Left-ruled states, said: “The party politburo has worked out a comprehensive policy for regulating entry of corporate and organised sector in the retail trade.”

The party had asked the Centre to “introduce licensing and regulation norms”.

But since the Centre is not doing that, the document asked the Left-ruled states to “get regulations framed and implemented through the municipal corporations”.

“This needs to be done both in Bengal and Kerala,’’ the political report said.

However, Bhattacharjee, who had spoken of the need for some “regulations” on corporate retail in Coimbatore, made it clear that he would welcome the private sector in the farm products marketing infrastructure.

Karat, who is in Calcutta for the party’s first politburo meeting since the congress, apparently endorsed Bengal’s go-slow on regulating corporate entry in retail.

“Kerala’s situation is different as big retail groups are coming there. In view of that, the government there has asked retail groups to seek licence from the municipalities,’’ Karat said.

Told that Reliance was waiting in the wings in Bengal, Karat said: “Reliance is not coming here in a big way.”

The political resolution of the party congress had portrayed Reliance as an example of the unchecked corporate entry into retail that is thre-atening the livelihood of lakhs of small traders and shop- keepers.

Bhattacharjee’s government and the state party leadership fear that any “drastic action would send a wrong signal to investors”.

They actually tried to make room for the Mukesh Ambani-led company in Bengal with an eye on possible investments in other sectors like petrochemicals and natural gas.