Wednesday, June 1 2005 21:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Left parties today (Jun1, 2005) said that they opposed the disinvestment of Government stake in BHEL, saying this was a "creeping way" in which privatisation was being carried out of a profit-making public sector unit.

"This is a creeping way for privatisation", Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A B Bardhan told reporters after a meeting of the Left parties, which "touched upon" the issue, but primarily concentrated on discussing the impending rise in petrol and diesel prices.

"We are opposed to the 10 percent dilution of Government stake in BHEL", he said.

The Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) had earlier described the decision as being "directly contradictory" to United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) Common Minimum Programme promise that profit-making PSUs would not be disinvested or privatised.