Mamata opposes disinvestment, suggests all party meet

Kolkata: Opposing disinvestment of Public Sector Undertakings, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said it was not a permanent solution and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consult experts and, if need be, call an all-party meeting on the issue.

“Disinvesting the public sector and using the money to manage the immediate crisis is not a permanent and the only solution. You need economic stability for a permanent solution, because otherwise, the economic disaster will only intensify,” Banerjee told media in Bahrampur of Murshidabad district.

She suggested the central government should hold consultations on the issue and consider everybody’s opinion in the “positive sense”.

“I think the prime minister should speak to experts in the country on this issue. If need be there should be an all-party meeting, the Trinamool Congress supremo said.

Banerjee’s remarks came a day after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved strategic disinvestment in five large public sector undertakings (PSU) — BPCL, CONCOR, SCI, THDC, and NEEPCO — along with a change in management control in these companies.