Nalco and NLC disinvestment put on hold

It was political blackmailing at its worst. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi blatantly threatened to pull of the Manmohan Singh led UPA Government if the Centre continued with its decision to disinvest its stake in the Nalco and NLC PSUs. This was conveyed to the Prime Minister by the DMK ministers earlier today. Buckling under pressure from DMK, Manmohan Singh decided to put on hold the disinvest of the two PSUs.

The NLC disinvestment had become a major showdown between the ADMK and DMK. ADMK has been taking full advantage of the situation by portraying the DMK and Congress as anti-labour. The DMK certainly didn’t want this to happen because it would severely dent its chances in the upcoming local body elections. More over, the DMK is furious that Prime Minsiter Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Chidambaram decided to take the decision to divest stake at Nalco and NLC when Maran was out of the country. This episode is an unfortunate example of how political considerations comes above national interests and economic common sense. It is also a severe embarrassment to Manmohan Singh. This certainly sends a wrong message about the UPA Government’s disinvestment policy.