Oppn bent upon derailing selloff

NEW DELHI: The opposition is hell-bent derailing the government’s divestment train. Soon after raising a shindy over the sale of Mumbai Centaur to the Sahara group, the Opposition launched a campaign that oil companies nationalised through an Act of Parliament could not be privatised without Parliament’s specific mandate.
The disinvestment process then had to wait for legal opinion on the subject. The CCD meet on Republic Day took place after the Attorney General gave his opinion that such mandate was not required.
The mid-April meeting of the CCD saw both Indian Airlines and Air India being pulled off the privatisation list. The ongoing privatisation process of the Shipping Corporation had to be abandoned and a new one kicked off, allowing for larger foreign ownership.
Expressions of interest have been invited for HPCL and companies have responded. But, even as the tedious work of valuation goes on in right earnest at the disinvestment ministry, public interest litigation has cropped up challenging the strategic sale of HPCL. Even if the Supreme Court, currently on vacation, disposes of the PIL in a reasonable time frame, the political obstacles remain.
Key assembly elections come up in November this year. Does the political leadership want to risk losing even a single vote by going ahead with the sale of oil PSUs before that? Thereafter, the political establishment would get into the general election mode. Do incumbent leaders want a new oil marketing company that does not fully appreciate the PSU culture in which subtle hints from the ministry translate into firm brakes on domestic retail prices of cooking gas, petrol and diesel even as international prices go up?
Then again, the BJP leadership has to contend with allies such as the Shiv Sena, stoutly opposed to the sale of oil PSU, apart from the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and other elements of the Sangh Parivar who believe that oil is a strategic secure that should be kept outside disinvestment.