The government on Thursday came under a severe attack from two key allies of NDA, Samata Party and Janata Dal(U), for its move to divest in two major profit-making oil companies, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
The allies alleged that the 'government is playing into the hands of Reliance group.'
Amid thumping of desks, Congress and Left party leaders supported the two NDA partners, saying the entire opposition was with them and they must stick to their stand and force the ruling coalition to reverse the process.
Angry members of the two allies alleged that even the Petroleum Minister Ram Naik was strongly opposed to the move in the beginning but he later succumbed to the pressure and was keeping quiet.
Refusing to be drawn into any controversy, Naik, who was sitting in the House, merely said he would wait for a discussion in the House on the issue.
Speaker Manohar Joshi allowed members to speak after rejecting their notices of adjournment motion on the issue. He also observed that a date for discussion on the matter would be fixed by the business advisory committee.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour after the two allies had made an unsuccessful attempt to stall the Question Hour, Samata Party member Prabhunath Singh demanded that the process of divesting in the two oil companies must be stopped forthwith pending approval by Parliament.
He pleaded with the Speaker that he should give a directive to the government that no further step be taken till Parliament gave a green signal.
The government has gone ahead with the process without taking Parliament into confidence which, the Samata Party member said, was against the propriety and dignity of the supreme legislative body.
"Ninety five per cent people of the country are opposed to the move. The Union Cabinet is divided on it and majority of Ministers are against it. Even then the government is bent upon selling off the two companies. HPCL and BPCL have made profits of Rs 173 crore (Rs 1.73 billion) and Rs 118 crore (Rs 1.18 billion), Respectively, last year," Singh said.
He said the move was "totally against the interests of the nation."
After their divestment, these companies would hardly take care of the consumers' interests and the country's security when a war was looming large in Iraq, he said.
He alleged, "This is being done at the instance of Reliance group and the government is playing into its hands."
Naik had spoken against the divestment in the two oil companies in the very beginning but 'his voice was stifled under pressure,' Singh said and remarked without naming anybody that a Cabinet minister would sell the entire country.
Samata Party member, Devendra Prasad Yadav of JD(U), said the entire nation was being misled on the issue and people in rural areas were unaware about divestment.
The divestment ministry should be renamed as 'Rashtriya Sampatti Becho Mantralaya' (national asset selling ministry), Yadav said and wanted to know the justification for divesting these profit making units.
