George does a selloff volte face

NEW DELHI: A distinctly mellowed George Fernandes on Saturday announced that he was not opposed to disinvestment, raising hopes of an early break in the selloff logjam, specifically an agreement to the dispute over the disinvestment of oil majors, HPCL and BPCL.
In fact, the defence minister, whose call for a review of the divestment process had stalled attempts to clear the strategic sale of the oil companies at the September 7 CCD meeting, said that the three-month moratorium on the sale imposed at the meeting was far too long.
He said: “We should not wait for three months. It is of importance, and the issue should be thrashed out as early as possible.’’ Pressed more than once to tell whether he had acquiesed to a compromise formula under which the two oil companies can be put on sale if public gas companies are also allowed to bid for them (as reported by ET yesterday), the minister demurred and said he would clarify his views only in the Cabinet.
Addressing a news conference here on Saturday, Mr Fernandes made a determined attempt to distance himself from the “anti-disinvestment faction�, although he didn’t deny the existence of one.
Asked to identify the faction, Fernandes once feigned ignorance and then suddenly blamed the media for conjuring up one. In any case, he clarified that he didn’t belong to the faction. He reiterated that he only wanted a review, and whatever the outcome of it, he was willing to go along. If the review called for a course correction, he would be happy, if it concluded that the current path was the best, he would be just as happy.
Fernandes’ conscious effort today was to ensure that he didn’t send out any wrong signal on disinvestment as well as the leadership of Prime minister A B Vajpayee.
Like most politicians painted in a corner, the minister accused the media of distorting the real picture, He maintained that his meeting with Murli Manohar Joshi and Ram Naik had been blown out of proportion.
He also maintained that he had apprised the Prime Minister about the discussions promptly after the meeting. He indicated that he, as well as others who shared his views, had not crossed the ‘lakshman rekha’.