Cong backs govt's divestment plan

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday appeared determined to back the just-revived disinvestment programme when it said that ���no individual or party can exercise the veto power���. The Congress was responding to the Left���s attack against the divestment decisions announced by the government on Thursday.

The party���s backing could strengthen the government���s hands while dealing with Leftists and other sceptics of the government���s policies. At the same time, it could also strain the relations with the Left, which nurtures a belief that no major decision can be taken by the government without its consent.

Party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who amplified the Congress��� tough message, made it a point to assert that the government will not wait for a consensus to push through contentious issues. ���The government will do what is necessary after taking all views into account... The requirement is of consultation not consensus,��� Mr Singhvi said.

He was responding to questions about the Left���s opposition to the decision to disinvest partial stake in Rural Electrification Corporation, Power Grid Corporation and National Electrical Power Corporation. Mr Singhvi also added that in any coalition what was feasible was to have the widest possible spectrum of consultation after which the government takes its decision despite differing views.

But a section within the Congress may not be comfortable with the ���widest possible specturm��� argument as they lay premium on the cohension with the alliance. It was the split in the alliance that led to the defeat in the just concluded BMC polls.

Coming back to the stand taken by the party on the disinvestment decisions, the party spokesman did not see much merit in the Left���s accusations. ���I don���t agree with the use of the word disinvestment.

It is a small partial off-loading of shares of public sector companies,��� Mr Singhvi said. He added that the decision had been ���proclaimed after full consultation with the different elements of the political coalition��� and that the money would be channeled towards development purposes.

The Left has problems with almost all of Mr Singhvi���s claims. ���They should have clarified this earlier (about the requirement for consultation but not consensus). We never agreed to disinvestment riding piggy back on the IPOs issued by the companies.

It dilutes the government equity in these PSUs. Giving this impression is an ill-motivated way of doing things,��� CPI general secretary AB Bardhan said. Mr Bardhan is one of the Left leaders to have taken up cudgels with finance minister P Chidambaram on more than one occasion for terming a routine mention of a tricky policy issue as ���consultation���.

In his response to the Congress line, CPM politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai said: ���Discussion does not mean agreement. We never agreed to it (disinvestment)���. A CPM politburo statement opposing the decision said that while the PSUs would be issuing an IPO ��� expected to fetch them Rs. 2,400 crores ��� the government was also disinvesting shares owned by it to the tune of about Rs. 1,500 crore in the PSUs.

���This is uncalled for. The government should stop the practice of riding piggy back on IPOs issued by the public sector companies. The CPM calls upon the government not to proceed with the disinvestment of shares alongwith the IPOs,��� it said.