Tuesday, Jun 04, 2002
Tuesday, Jun 04, 2002 |
| National | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | National
By Neena Vyas
This means that after investing Rs. 1145 crores, the Tatas were able to extract Rs. 1200 crores for investment in their own company, besides getting a 25 per cent stake in the profit-making VSNL.
The first shot was fired by the Communications and Information Technology Minister, Pramod Mahajan, who even threatened legal action against the Tatas, even as Mr. Shourie defended the decision through a studied silence. Today, the party's economic affairs committee issued a statement saying the VSNL disinvestment case was ``most disappointing'' and that it had sent a ``wrong signal.'' People ``may start looking at the disinvestment process as an opportunity to siphon off funds from the PSUs,'' the statement added.
``Legally, Tatas may be right,'' the convener of the party's economic cell, Jagdish Shettigar, said today and then went on to defend the Government by pleading that it was a ``first experience''.
A senior BJP leader has been quoted as saying privately that a critical clause in the transfer of shares agreement to prevent the extraction of funds from the company might be missing, although such a clause was there in the case of BALCO. Party leaders admitted that if this was true, it would certainly smell like a scandal. Mr. Shourie would then have to own up responsibility.
Reports suggest that Mr. Mahajan is angry that although he was the master of VSNL as the Communications Minister, Mr. Shourie kept him out of the deal struck with the Tatas.
Yet another dimension of the current imbroglio, involving several senior Ministers, is that some felt Mr. Shourie was trying desperately to become the Finance Minister, especially after speculative reports gained ground that the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, may be on his way out. Even now, many in the party believe that Mr. Sinha's tenure has become untenable, especially after the Flex Industries connection came up. There are several powerful leaders in the party who certainly do not want to see Mr. Shourie walk into this important portfolio. Many party leaders see Mr. Shourie as ``arrogant'' and added to this is distrust and suspicion as he is not from the RSS stables. The senior party leader, Murli Manohar Joshi, has, for quite some time, nursed the ambition of becoming Finance Minister and, if there is any major reshuffle, he is certain to throw his hat in the ring. Besides, he has powerful RSS support.
Some party leaders also said the Government had been able to get Rs. 700 crores for VSNL assets that were delinked to disinvestment and sold separately before the Tata deal, as those assets were not related directly to VSNL operations and functioning. ``This was insisted upon by the party through a resolution at the Goa executive where Mr. Shourie had initially resisted this,'' they said.
Mr Shettigar said that the VSNL board decision to allow the Tatas to take out Rs. 1200 crores for investment in their company ``defeats the very purpose of disinvestment and brings the reforms process into disrepute''.
He said he was surprised that the Tatas, known for its business ethics, indulged in this kind of a game ``even if it was legal.''
He wanted an inquiry into the affair and he hoped that the Tatas would see reason and ``return'' Rs. 1200 crores to VSNL.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|