Thursday, May 26 2005 16:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A fresh row erupted today (May 26, 2005) between the Government and the Left parties over the divestment of BHEL shares with Finance Minister P Chidambaram saying the Left were consulted on the issue, a claim stoutly denied by the key outside supporters of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition.

"The Left has been consulted in the matter," Chidambaram told reporters after the Union Cabinet met and decided to offload ten per cent of Government stake in the public sector undertaking.

Chidambaram's reply came following a spate of questions on the response of the Left parties over the decision.

However, Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary D Raja said, "We were not consulted" when asked whether the Left parties were consulted on the issue.

Both CPI and Communist Party Of (CPM) strongly opposed the Cabinet decision and demanded that the Manmohan Singh Government to reconsider the move.

"In light of the commitments made in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP), the (CPM) considers this Cabinet decision to be directly contradictory", the party Polit Bureau said in a statement.

It quoted the NCMP as "clearly stating that the UPA Government will encourage and strengthen the navaratnas to become global players. The NCMP also categorically states that the Government shall not disinvest, privatise the profit- making public sector undertakings".

Raja said, "This reckless disinvestment of one of the navaratnas amounts to undermining the position of the PSU. This will also mean privatisation through the backdoor".