CWC endorses economic reforms, backs multi-brand retail FDI

The Congress party today backed the  government's new economic reform measures, including FDI in multi-brand retail, as party president Sonia Gandhi ruled out any threat to the government.

The development comes with the first meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) after Trinamool Congress parted with the UPA with the party president saying the government was "stable".

But there was a demand that steps be initiated to allay apprehensions of people regarding the new economic reform measures undertaken by the government, at a time when elections were due in some states over the next few months.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh assured the party's apex decision-making body that the steps being taken for the poor and the disadvantaged would continue with the Congress policies for development and welfare of the 'Aam Admi'.

The meeting of the CWC, which started with opening remarks by Gandhi, saw the government make a strong pitch for reforms even as finance minister P Chidambaram made it clear that unless the country's economic condition was sound, the government would not be in a position to implement the flagship programmes of UPA targeted at the poor.

According to the prime minister, effective steps for welfare of the poor could not be taken unless the economy was strong.