Vajpayee had pleaded at CCD for divestment

NEW DELHI: The BJP government’s loss of appetite for reforms today came in for sharp attack from an important ally of the NDA, the Telugu Desam Party.
TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu, who supported disinvestment in the oil sector, said the current vacillation would damage the credibility of the decision-making process. “Now it is one step forward and two steps backward. This trend should be reversed�.
This stand of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister confirms the view that the BJP ministers are the biggest hurdle to disinvestment and that there are no serious differences within the alliance or supporting parties about the course of the economic policy.
DMK leader and commerce minister Murasoli Maran had said much the same at the meeting of the CCD last Saturday.
“Disinvestment was a shining achievement of the government but there is a growing perception that the government is backtracking on the policy. This should be reversed,� Maran had said at the CCD meeting.
Talking to reporters in Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister also said the government should create space for competition to thrive. “The government should only play the role of a facilitator,� he said.
But BJP ministers, who see disinvestment as one that will shrink their respective turf, have become the chief critics of the policy. Their efforts are being complemented by George Fernandes, who claims the issue would hurt the alliance politically.
Although this theory was roundly rebuffed by Advani, who is otherwise sensitive to his concerns, those who want to complicate matters for the prime minister used it rather well to sabotage disinvestment of HPCL and BPCL at the last meeting of the CCD.
At the CCD meeting, Mr Vajpayee had pleaded with his colleagues not to stall the disinvestment process, something which has been moving unhindered.
The downturn in the markets after the CCD meeting — there has been a loss of Rs 11,286 crore in the market cap of PSUs — is a cause of worry for responsible sections within the government and there is apprehension that it could damage the regime’s credibility. But senior ministers of the Vajpayee government, influenced by vested interests and lobbying by corporates, are in no mood to abandon their opposition to the process.
A section in the BJP is of the view that the departure of reforms-friendly ministers from the Cabinet has been a handicap for the prime minister. It may be recalled ministers like Arun Jaitely and Suresh Prabhu were important backers of the programme.
The panel is now dominated by status quoists and there is a feeling that corporate lobbyists have been successful in enlisting support of ministers for their respective causes.
Differences in the government over disinvestment policy may also lead to a collapse of the emerging national consensus on the matter. As a matter of fact, Congress-ruled states like Punjab has been pursuing the policy aggressively and has replicated the Centre’s model for the sale of state-run units.
And any disturbance in Delhi could have its impact on the state capitals as it would embolden the policy’s opponents to up the ante against the policy.