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Disinvestment woes

Sir, — This has reference to your Editorial, ``Chinks in disinvestment'' (Oct. 23). The deferment of a decision on divestment of two oil majors haunts the NDA Government and the financial world at large. Though the main reason for the delay might be the lack of proper political will, certain bitter experiences on post-divestment also might have been contributing to the woes. The recent Centaur Hotel issue has certainly put the Government in a fix.

The Government is yet to take a mid-term review or a fine-tuning of the process, but instead, there are signs of a cold war between the Disinvestment Minister, Arun Shourie, and the Coal and Mines Minister, Uma Bharti, the Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik, and other prominent members of the Sangh Parivar. Divestment has become a matter of tough bite within the BJP, and the Prime Minister seems to be stranded. Steps should be taken to make the deals more transparent to ensure a smooth sail for the divestment policy.

C.P. Velayudhan Nair,
Kochi, Kerala

* * *

Sir, — Though there appears to be chinks in the disinvestment policy pursued by the NDA Government, the process should not be postponed or dispensed with. Just a few days ago, the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, said that the public-sector disinvestment programme would go on, but there are enough indications that a concerted, behind-the-screen political manoeuvring by some vested interests in the NDA is in full swing to derail the disinvestment process.

The Disinvestment Minister, Arun Shourie, should keep in mind that controversies such as the resale of the Centaur Hotel to the Sahara group and the VSNL's decision to invest substantial sums in a Tata group company only serve to strengthen the anti-disinvestment lobby within the Government. Mr. Shourie should not only ensure that the procedure adopted in this regard is above board but also see to it that the privatised entities do not compromise on certain core business and national objectives.

R. Venkatesh Iyengar,
Gulbarga, Karnataka

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