Cong defends PM's move

ROADBLOCK TO REFORMS

In an apparent damage control exercise following the surfacing of chinks between the party and government over disinvestment of PSUs, which also raised questions about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's rapport with party president Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party today came out in defence of the PM saying that there were no differences between him and the party and he had to put disinvestment decisions on hold to address the sensitivity of a coalition partner.

"There are no differences, will never be, between the party and the PM. We stand as one," Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said in a press briefing today.

The Congress also lashed out at the BJP for saying that the PM's decision on disinvestment showed the failure of decision-making ability and reversal of policies.

Producing a list of a dozen instances to show that the NDA regime had rolled back its decisions several times under pressure from its alliance partners, Natarajan said that it was Atal Behari Vajpayee "who was the weakest PM in Indian history".

The instances included Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's 'clash' with then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in a Cabinet meeting in June 2000 over disinvestment of Tyre Corporation of India and Tea Estates, which forced the government to put it off; Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray's criticism of Balco deal in February 2001; 'war of words' between Ram Naik and Arun Shourie - both ministers - over BPCL and HPCL sell-off; NDA convenor George Fernandes' criticism of the disinvestment policy, especially in telecom and petrochemicals, in August 2002; and, Uma Bharti's letter to the then PM against Nalco 'sell-off', among others.

"It is, therefore, disingenuous on the part of the NDA to question the PM's decision to put on hold disinvestment proposals to talk to allies, while the NDA itself did it so many times. To call the PM weak, ineffective is unjustified since the PM is doing a magnificent job of reflecting the party's concern for 'aam admi'," said the Congress spokesperson, adding that it was the NDA, which was known as rollback government and the very process of Nalco disinvestment was stalled by the NDA regime.

Natarajan said that there was no end to the process of economic reforms and there was no change in the Congress stance on disinvestment as laid out in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP).