| "Sweet-heart deals for public sector companies, in which there were allegations that some people close to certain political parties were favoured, should be probed. We leave it to the next government to clean up the area of disinvestment and other areas where news and evidence of scam had surfaced," CPI(M) Spokesperson Sitaram Yechury told reporters here. |
| "The nature of the probe should be decided by the government," he said when asked whether his party favoured a probe by joint parliamentary committee or the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. |
| The statement comes after CPI(M)'s repeated demands for a probe into "bear cartel", referred to by the outgoing Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie, during the public offer of six state-owned companies. |
| To a remark that the Left's pressure had worked on the Congress regarding Singh's statement on privatisation, Yechury said: "There was no pressure from the Left." |
| "We welcome Singh's statement. There was no pressure from the Left. We also want public good and a strong nation," he said. |
| Yechury said the common minimum programme, which is being discussed, would have a blue-print on disinvestment also. |
| When asked about the fall in stock market yesterday after Singh's statement on privatisation, Yechury said the market is being manipulated. |
| "It will be childish to attribute the fall in market (earlier this week) just on the statement of the Left parties. The previous government had said that they know who the manipulators were during the public offer of the sixth government company," he said and demanded that the outgoing Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie disclose the name of the manipulator in the interest of the country. |
| Yechury also demanded an inquiry into what he called "sweetheart deals" during disinvestment. |
| "We will leave it to the government to clean up all the disinvestment and other areas where evidence of scams had come up," he added. |
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