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UPA Government : New confrontation building up with Left

	June 26, 2006

Price rise, disinvestment proving tough nuts to crack for PM



A new confrontation between the Manmohan

Singh Government and the Left parties is

building up on the issue of disinvestment of

10 per cent Government equity in the National

Aluminium Company NALCO and the Neyveli

Lignite Corporation. The Government had

announced on Thursday, June 22, that 10 per cent

equity in the two companies will be sold and the

money used for adding Rs. 2,500 crore to the coffers

of the National Investment Fund.

The CPI(M), the very next day, i.e on June 23,

urged the Union Government to reconsider the

disinvestment decision. In a statement, the CPI(M)

politburo said that the decision went against the

spirit of the common minimum programme which

clearly stated that profit making public sector

companies will not be privatised or disinvested. It

said such disinvestment paves the way for creeping

privatization through the back door.

CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechuri said

in Bhopal that selling property to meet expenses is

neither common sense nor good economics. He said

if the Government is really concerned about

generating sources, it should take steps to recover

the huge tax arrears from corporate houses.

The Government decision to import wheat and

sugar has also drawn criticism. Samajwadi Party

chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam

Singh Yadav said that farmers would bear the brunt

of the Central Government’s decision and would be

ruined.

Concerned over the price rise, the Government

had announced last week that it is permitting private

companies to import wheat and sugar to control

prices which have registered a steep rise in the last

two months. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said

in New Delhi after a meeting of the Cabinet

Committee On Prices that wheat, sugar and pulses

were showing a rising trend, and therefore it was

decided to augment supply.

Speaking in Bangalore on June 24, Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh said that the UPA

Government is determined to keep the surging prices

of essential commodities under control and would

take further measures as and when the situation

arises.

The BJP, on its part, has held the UPA

Government responsible for the rising prices of

essential commodities. The party said that the

situation is not the result of any natural calamity,

but a crisis manufactured by the present regime.

Party spokesperson Prakash Javedkar

demanded an immediate roll back of the hike in the

prices of petrol and diesel.

On the reservation front, the Left parties have

said that they will not tolerate any delay in the

implementation of the quota policy. CPI secretary

D. Raja said in Bangalore that his party was against

any change in the reservation policy. He said the

new policy pertaining to reservation for OBCs was

now part of the Constitution and the UPA

Government had no option, but to implement it.

In a related development, CPI(M) politburo

member Sitaram Yechuri met Human Resource

Development Minister Arjun Singh in New Delhi on

June 20. Sources say that Yechuri impressed upon

the Minister that the OBC quota Bill needed to be

introduced in the coming monsoon session of

Parliament.