New Delhi: In a bid to break the impasse over the disinvestment programme, particularly relating to sale of equity in oil PSUs, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie had a meeting with Defence Minister George Fernandes, who sought policy review for any course correction that might be needed.

The two ministers met on September 4, a day after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee took initiative to resolve the differences by holding a meeting with Fernandes along with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh.

When contacted, Shourie, who was on way to Mumbai, said that he had a meeting with Fernandes but declined to give details.

The meeting is believed to have been the outcome of the mediation of BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley in a bid to bring about a consensus on the disinvestment issues.

Fernandes and Shourie met for the first time since the former wrote a letter to Vajpayee late last month raising certain issues including a discussion among key ministers for a review of the policy and progress, which is reported to have led to postponement of the scheduled meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) from August 27 till September 7.

It is understood that Fernandes sought a rationale for Disinvestment Ministry to push ahead with the strategic sale route while suggesting that they should also consider other options like public offer to prevent creation of any private monopoly.

PTI