With voices of opposition to FDI in retail growing louder in Congress, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma will brief the party MPs tomorrow on reasons behind the decision and the benefits it will accrue.

"It (the briefing) is tomorrow morning," Sharma told PTI when asked about the briefing he was expected to give to the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee briefly spoke about the FDI decision to CPP yesterday and told the MPs that Sharma would give a detailed briefing to them.

The briefing by Sharma, whose ministry proposal was approved the cabinet last week, was expected today, but did not take place.

The briefing by these ministers to the party MPs assumes significance as voices of opposition to the decision have grown louder. At least three Congress MPs - Ramesh Chenithala, Sanjay Singh and Praveen Aron - have spoken against it publicly, while a number of others are also believed to be unhappy.

On the opposition stalling parliament on the issue, Sharma hit out at them, terming it as "obstructionist opportunist".

He asserted that the opposition could not dictate the government on executive policy decisions as also the language of the adjournment motion, under which discussion is demanded in parliament.

BJP gearing up to move adjournment motion

Primary opposition Bhartiya Janata Party on Thursday remained adamant on its demand for rollback of FDI in retail sector in India and its leaders held a series of meetings to chalk out further strategy on the issue.

L K Advani and other BJP leaders met before the start of parliament and decided that the government should either rollback the FDI decision or else it will move an adjournment motion on the issue.

It was also decided at the meeting that party leader Murli Manohar Joshi would move the adjournment motion in Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), as there was no sign of the government withdrawing the FDI move.

Advani and Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, said that the government has not reached out to them on the issue of running Parliament smoothly. "We have not heard from anyone. We have no information," the two leaders said.

Besides Advani and Swaraj, others who attended the meeting were Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament), the party's deputy leaders in the two houses, Gopinath Munde and S S Ahluwalia, former presidents Rajnath Singh and Joshi and its chief whip in Lok Sabha Ramesh Bais.

BJP leaders later again met alongwith ally and JD(U) (Janata Dal-United) leader Sharad Yadav, after both the Houses adjourned for the day to chalk out NDA's (National Democratic Alliance) further strategy over the logjam.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said outside parliament, "The BJP is seeking a rollback on the FDI decision and a discussion on price rise issue. But, the government has no interest in running Parliament...."

He said, "The government, which is the custodian of parliament, is not interested in running it, then how will it run smoothly. The ruling party seems disinterested."

Hussain said that the BJP wants the parliament to run smoothly and is, therefore, seeking a withdrawal of the FDI decision and holding of a discussion on price rise.