What's a sellout?

Is the Kejriwal effect having an impact on the government’s revenue-raising agenda? Outlining the fiscal consolidation road map ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s quarterly review of monetary policy this week, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government had no plans to sell stakes held by its arm, the Specified Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI), in several listed companies, including blue-chips ITC, Larsen & Toubro and Axis Bank. Why this reluctance when the government badly needs revenue? A senior finance ministry official explained that the government was cautious because of the possibility that these stakes would end up in the hands of big private corporations, thereby attracting charges of collusion. “You never know, anybody can raise question these days attributing motives behind the decision,” the official said.