Now, Cong to put govt on mat in Parliament

The Congress is set to give a hard time to the government in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament on the issues of price rise and disinvestment. Party leaders are also eager to put Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the mat for his alleged inaction on Centaur hotel 'sell-off'.

All-India Congress Committee general secretary V Narayansami, who had led the anti-disinvestment campaign on party forums, will again be on the forefront leading the party's charge on the Centaur disinvestment issue in Parliament. He has already given notice for a short duration discussion on this issue.

"The then NDA regime had sold the hotel for a throwaway price and the buyer had made huge profits in the deal. When the CPI(M) had raised this issue in Parliament last February, the finance minister had given an assurance on the floor of the House that he would hold an internal inquiry and if need be, call for a CBI inquiry. We have not heard anything from the FM so far. What happened to his assurance in the House? We have, therefore, decided to raise this issue in the monsoon session," Narayansami told Business Standard.

Although the AICC general secretary said that the move was meant to put the Opposition NDA in the dock, it is set to recoil on the government as the debate on Centaur hotel disinvestment will certainly lead to further discussions on the wider issue of disinvestment in public sector undertakings in Parliament.

Senior Congress leaders said that the party would welcome a debate on disinvestment in PSUs as it would give them an opportunity to make their stance clear.

"We would like to place it on record that we are not in favour of disinvestment in profit-making non-Navratna companies, even as we see no problem in selling off loss making units to finance our social sector programnmes," said a senior party leader.

Concerned about a dent in its image as a party for 'aam admi' due to the rise in the prices of some essential commodities, the Congress also seems to be eager to put the blame on the government. It was learnt to have decided to raise the issue of price rise in Parliament.

Congress sources explained that the Opposition parties would certainly rake up these issues in Parliament and therefore, the party would like to take the initiative to 'blunt' their attack on the government.