"People of India know Manmohan Singh better than to believe that he would get involved in corporate affairs," Singh's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru said here. "The PM meets corporate leaders all the time to discuss national economic issues as any leader of modern economy would," he added. This explanation, however, did not satisfy political opinion. |
In a strongly worded statement, the CPI(M) Politburo said, "The Prime Minister's Office should not become the conciliation office for warring corporates however desperate the ruling party may be to retain power."
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"The corporate houses are openly in the fray to lobby their interests in the run up to the confidence vote," the statement said, noting that a "dangerous precedent" had been set with the PM "being asked to personally intervene to mediate between the Ambani brothers."
The BJP on its part too expressed concern at what it perceived as undue influence being wielded by the corporate world on national politics. "The very talk of corporate involvement in politicking and other political activity is condemnable," said senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad went a step further and said that "the government appears more concerned with corporate warfare and interests rather than crippling inflation".
The only defence the PM got was predictably from Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, considered close to Anil Ambani and the man who set the cat among the pigeons by demanding that someone of the PM's stature mediate between the two brothers.
"Murli Deora is also an industrialist. And the demand for windfall tax had come first from the Left and even US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Mukesh Ambani meeting the PM is nothing to comment on. The PM is free to meet him as he is to meet K K Birla or even Anil Ambani," he said at a press conference.