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Journalism of Courage
With the Government sticking to the line that ‘privatisation’ and ‘disinvestment’ cannot be equated, the Left parties could not make much headway today on the Government’s decision to dilute 10 per cent stake in the heavy engineering PSU, BHEL. But, at the Left-UPA coordination committee meeting, it got the Centre to decide to move court to implement the recommendations of the Central POTA Review Committee on the Godhra train carnage cases, rejected by the Gujarat government.
On the BHEL issue, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said after a one-and-half-hour meeting of the committee: ‘‘The Government and the Left exchanged views on disinvestment with particular reference to the BHEL case. The Government made it clear that the public sector character of Navratnas will not be altered.’’
‘‘The future capital requirement of Navratnas will be met,’’ he added.
After the meeting, the Left leaders — CPM’s Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D. Raja and RSP’s Abani Roy — said they will go back to the Left coordination forum to further discuss the issue.
Taking a ‘we-are-not-endorsing the Government line’ stand on BHEL, Yechury said, ‘‘The Government has already taken an executive decision. There is no agreement on whether the Government will stop proceeding on the matter. If the Government proceeds, we will take a decision accordingly.’’
What seemed to have helped Chidambaram to hold his ground today was the Prime Minister’s support. While giving the Left a patient hearing, sources said, he made a distinction between ‘‘privatisation’’ and ‘‘disinvestment’’, pointing out the fact that the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) was against ‘‘privatisation’’ of Navratna PSUs which the Government was following.Sounding unhappy, CPI’s D Raja said, ‘‘We do not agree with the Government, we are strongly opposing the move on BHEL. The NCMP cannot be interpreted as one likes.’’
The coordination committee meeting, which was called today after the four Left parties jointly sent a letter to the Prime Minister, was attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Minister of State Prithviraj Chauhan.
Brushing aside the Left’s protests — Yechury and Surjeet had held separate meetings with Sonia Gandhi on Friday and Saturday — the Government has already invited bids for advice from global investment bankers on BHEL. An advertisement posted on the Department of Disinvestment website asks for submission of bids by July 11. ‘‘That is why (because of the ad) we wanted the coordination meeting, we could not endorse the Government’s line. But we have agreed to further discuss the matter among ourselves,’’ RSP’s Ambani Roy said, adding that the trade unions can call a strike on July 9 ‘‘which we told them’’.
