Left gets personal, attacks FM over Nalco disinvestment

NEW DELHI: Furious at being snubbed by the government, Left parties on Thursday launched a personal attack against finance minister P Chidambaram and said disinvestment in Nalco was aimed at favouring his former clients.

The Left, which rebutted the claim made by Mr Chidambaram that the disinvestment proposal carried the sanction of the Left parties, said the issue would be taken up at the co-ordination panel.

The CPM’s trade union wing alleged that the decision on Nalco disinvestment was influenced by Mr Chidambaram’s relationship with Anil Agarwal-promoted metals company Vedanta Resources. “The finance minister should have followed his own precedent in the Dabhol case and reclused himself from the process of disinvestment in Nalco,” Citu secretary Dipankar Mukherjee said.

The Left leaders said the Union Cabinet’s decision to sell 10% government stake each in Nalco and Neyveli Lignite is the first step towards disinvestment in profit-making public sector undertakings (PSUs). “The issue was discussed at the co-ordination committee meet.

Discussion does not mean we agreed to it,” polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury said. After Bhel, the Left leadership had sent signals of being open to considering a finance ministry proposal for divesting ‘small shares’ in non-navratna profit-making PSUs.

However, faced with resistance from within to this, Left parties had second thoughts on a government proposal to divest in four profit-making PSUs, including 5% in Neyveli Lignite, and said an emphatic “no” to any disinvestment of profit-making PSUs.

Thursday’s Cabinet decision has revived the policy war over disinvestment with the Left dubbing it as creeping privatisation. Refuting the government’s argument that it would stop at divesting small shares, the Left sees the move as the tip of the iceberg.

“Profit-making PSUs should not be disinvested. If the Centre wants to mobilise resources it should explore other ways like tapping tax arrears. It should not be selling its assets,” Mr Yechury said. But he did not spell out how the Left parties will put pressure on the government to review the decision. He also said the NDA had already divested 12.85% stake in Nalco, of which Hindalco bought 4.5% shares.

CPI issued a statement threatening to launch an agitation against the decision to disinvest in Nalco and Neyveli Lignite saying it went against the NCMP. The Left parties had also come under pressure from its trade unions, Citu and Aituc, against any disinvestment of these PSUs and said the percentage was non-negotiable.

Aituc issued a statement recalling that employees of Nalco had carried out struggles against the NDA’s decision and now the UPA was also moving in the ‘wrong direction’. It said that though the mines minister had announced that proceeds from the disinvestment will be used for expansion of Nalco, the government decision was not on those lines. Aituc said it will intensify its struggle against disinvestment of profit-making PSUs.