Thursday, September 1 2005 10:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has assured the Opposition that he would convey to the Government the "sense of the Upper House" that no announcement pertaining to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail sector be made during the inter-session period.

"The Chairman has assured us that he would convey to the Government the sense of the House that it should not make any announcement about FDI in retail trade between now and the Winter Session of Parliament", party spokesperson and its Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj told reporters here, briefing about the session.

She said the Opposition had "mixed feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction" at the end of the session.

Swaraj said while the Opposition had been successful in drawing attention to issues affecting the common man and ideology including the IMDT Act, terrorist attack on Ayodhya, hike in petroleum prices and the Mumbai floods, it was "totally dissatisfied" with the Government for ignoring the urban sector in the Employment Guarantee Bill and "failure" to even introduce the Women's Empowerment Bill.

BJP's Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra expressed satisfaction over the performance of the party MPs in Parliament and attacked the Government for not introducing the Tribal Welfare Bill, which he alleged was being done under pressure from Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders.

Terming the Delhi Government's decision to roll back the hike in power tariff as a "victory", he demanded that all domestic electric metres be changed.

He also threatened a country-wide agitation against the "distortions" in history textbooks.