Mumbai:
Prime minister Manmohan Singh has put all disinvestment
decisions - including sale of shares in NALCO and NLC
- and proposals on hold amidst protest from Left allies
and a volte face by ruling partner DMK.
The
announcement came after the DMK, which earlier backed
government''s divestment plan with an employee stock option
proposal, threatened to withdraw support to the UPA government
on the Neyveli issue.
"There
have been representations from some of the constituents
and allies of the UPA about the process of disinvestment
in some public sector enterprises," the statement
said.
"Taking
into account their concerns, the prime minister has decided
to keep all disinvestment decisions and proposals on hold
pending further review," Sanjaya Baru, media adviser
to the prime minister, said in the statement.
The
statement came shortly after DMK chief and Tamil Nadu
chief minister M Karunanidhi said in Chennai that his
party was reconsidering its continuance in the centre.
The
Left parties also welcomed the move, saying it is in the
national interest and their "pressure" on the
government on this count is not meant to destabilise it.
"We
think that this sort of disinvestment is neither in the
interest of the country, nor in the interest of the public
assets. Keeping this in mind, we had opposed it,"
CPI(M) politbureau member Sitaram Yechury said.
This
is the second major disinvestment decision that the government
had to put on hold since the government kept on hold its
decision to divest 10 per cent of shares in public sector
BHEL last year under severe pressure from the Left.
The
DMK has 16 MPs while the Left has 60 MPs, both providing
critical support to the UPA government.
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