Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reiterated his opposition to the government's decision to open the retail sector to foreign super-chains. Mr Kumar said that "If FDI comes in infrastructure, it's okay, but not in agriculture. They want our markets. Shiny markets won't help farmers. We won't allow this in Bihar. FDI will make the farmer a slave in the end."

On Friday, the government in a surprise announcement cleared 51% Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in multi-brand retail - a move it first approved last year, but suspended after strident opposition by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Her Trinamool Congress will meet tomorrow to decide whether it should pull out of the government and provide external support - this means all ministers from Trinamool would quit. Aware that if she exits the UPA, the government will not fall, Ms Banerjee is unlikely to take a more extreme stand.

Ms Banerjee has 19 Lok Sabha MPs, making her the second- largest member of the ruling UPA coalition after the Congress.

Ms Banerjee's reaction has been taken in stride by the government which has said that while it respects her right to disallow the new retail policy in West Bengal, other states are in favour of FDI in retail and would like to implement it. The government's reforms are based on careful political calculations - Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party has said it does not support the new policy but will not stop the external support it provides to the UPA. Mayawati's BSP has taken a similar stand.

The BJP and the Left and other opposition parties have called a nationwide bandh on Thursday to protest against the new reform guidelines. The BJP has accused the government of using FDI to divert attention from the coal scandal that suggests the government allowed private firms sweetheart deals in coal blocks, many of them assigned to politicians and their relatives.