The all party meeting convened today by the finance minister Pranab Mukhgerjee to put an end to the furore in the Parliament's winter session for the past five days, ended without a breakthrough. The meeting was held with a hope to find a way out to break the impasse over the government's move to allow Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in the retail market.

After the meet ended, the Opposition reiterated it will not allow Parliament to function till the government withdraws its decision. The UPA's own allies like Mamata Banerjee and M Karunanidhi also want the decision withdrawn. Mr Mukherjee will now convey the opinion of different parties to the Prime Minister. "We told Pranab-da that we want a rollback and he said he'll consult the PM," said Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress, which is headed by Ms Banerjee and is the second-largest party in the coalition at the Centre after the Congress.

There has been no business conducted in Parliament this session - opposition parties say that cannot happen till they are allowed an adjournment motion on the matter that would introduce a debate on FDI followed by a vote. The government is fine with a debate but has used technicalities to argue against a vote. The numbers - if it comes to that - could expose the UPA is in a minority on the decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail which would allow companies like Walmart and Tesco to India. 246 votes would be in favour of the government; parties like the Left and the BJP, added up together, would equal 290 votes against FDI.