Fernandes meets Advani on disinvestment issue

NEW DELHI: As part of moves for evolving a consensus among ruling coalition partners on the disinvestment issue, Defence Minister George Fernandes on Thursday met Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, a day after his meeting with Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie.
Though both Fernandes and Advani were tight-lipped, officials said that the issues relating to disinvestment figured in the meeting.
Fernandes'' meeting with Advani is a sequel to his discussions with Shourie on Wednesday over differences over privatisation of two oil PSUs Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.
Former Disinvestment Minister and BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley was also present in Wednesday''s meeting.
The Defence Minister, who is said to be unhappy over the moves for privatisation of oil giants BPCL and HPCL, had publicly aired his suggestion for undertaking total review of the disinvestment process.
While dismissing reports of "differences" in the Cabinet on the disinvestment issue, Fernandes had said, "Whether disinvestment is proceeding in the right direction or whether any course correction is needed," were questions which needed to be answered.
The fresh round of meetings has apparently come at the suggestion of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, telling his senior colleagues to sit together to iron out the differences.