华尔街日报(1-10) 5 India Party Looks to Weather Challenge.docxVIP

India Party Looks to Weather ChallengeProtests against India’s pro-business overhauls intensified Thursday with a nationwide strike, but the congress party-led government appeared to gather sufficient political support to avoid being forced from office.Trinamool Congress, a member of the ruling coalition, has threatened to pull its ministers from the government on Friday over its opposition to the economic measures, which include raising subsidized diesel prices and permitting foreign supermarkets to open in India for the first time.The fact that Trinamool helps Congress’s United Progressive Alliance coalition reach a majority of seats in Parliament has set off speculation the government could face a no-confidence vote when the legislature reconvenes in December.But opponents of the overhauls have failed to form a united front, making it increasingly unlikely they will be able to force Congress to call early elections, which are due to be held by mid-2014.Despite its opposition to the overhauls, Trinamool, refused to join strikes called Thursday by India’s main opposition party.Across the country, shopkeepers, teachers and public transport workers-largely in non-Congress ruled states-stayed at home. Traders associations, which say the entry of foreign retailers like Wal-Mart and IKEA will run local shopkeepers out of business, backed the action. In Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, however, supporters of Trinamool clashed with BJP workers who were encouraging people to strike. Ms. Banejee argued that striking would cause financial losses. But the support of Marxist parties for the strikes is another reason Trinamool isn’t offering its backing. Ms. Banejee’s party came to power last year in Kolkata, breaking more than three decades of Communist rule in the state.India’s government on Thursday formally notified the bureaucracy of its decision last week to allow greater foreign investment in retail, aviation and broadcasting. The move empowers the bureaucracy to imp