UTI: Sinha blames previous govts.

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. The sharpening political divide once again cast its shadow on the continuing debate on the US-64 debacle in the Rajya Sabha today with the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, finding himself unable to close the credibility gap.

An unconvinced Opposition began interrupting Mr. Sinha just when he was warming up with his defence. The Opposition did not take kindly to his bid to apportion the blame for the sharp fall in stocks held by the United Trust of India to previous regimes. Accusing him of not addressing the pivotal question of involvement of the North Block and the Prime Minister's Office and household in the UTI's questionable investment decisions, the Opposition clashed with the Minister.

The decibel level rose perceptibly as the Opposition protested vociferously and an unyielding Mr. Sinha continued through the din with his theme of neglect of the UTI by previous governments. The Rajya Sabha Chairman, Mr. Krishan Kant, was finally forced to declare a 10-minute time-out to allow tempers to cool.

The ``interval'' did not have the intended effect and the Opposition and the Minister remained unmollified. The former increased the tempo of protests as it felt Mr. Sinha did not have the requisite authority to respond to accusations directed at the Prime Minister's establishment. Only the Prime Minister should reply to the charges, it insisted. In a repeat of his previous performance, Mr. Sinha stodgily ploughed through a prepared text. Another adjournment came within minutes as the acting moderator failed to restore order.

During the time afforded by the Opposition, Mr. Sinha was able to establish two points. One, the UTI will not be left in the lurch by the Government for want of funds when it begins buying back US-64 units from small investors from tomorrow. And, two, the catastrophe had gathered critical mass during the Narasimha Rao years when his (Mr. Sinha's) party was dwelling in the Opposition.

Remarks withdrawn

In between, the Minister's attempt to get back at Mr. Kapil Sibal for his acerbic speech yesterday rebounded. The Chair felt the motives attributed by Mr. Sinha to Mr. Sibal were unwarranted though they could remain on record as they were not deemed unparliamentary. Mr. Sinha withdrew his remarks.

The manner in which Mr. Sinha opened his speech indicated that the barbs from the Opposition and even the treasury benches during the six-hour debate spread over a week had hit home. ``I have been the target of vicious tongue-lashing. I might have squirmed but never intervened. I hope this House will show me the same courtesy.''

But that was not to happen and Mr. Sinha was left to speak his mind to some Ministers and BJP backbenchers after the main body of MPs had left.

In the time he was able to address the Upper House, Mr. Sinha said the UTI had ignored the warnings of the Joint Parliamentary Committee in 1993 to scale down its exposure in stocks which kept on increasing since 1991-92. This disturbed the earlier equilibrium of keeping a higher proportion of investments in debt instruments and a lower percentage in shares.

The UTI was also affected by the fall in market value of PSU shares which it was forced to purchase during the Congress regime. The UTI's bailout in 1998 involved the Government buying back those shares from the UTI, he clarified adding the issue merited a through inquiry. The UTI also dipped heavily into its reserves during the Congress years (between 1995 and 1998) to maintain an unusually high rate of dividend.

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