Four left parties on Wednesday asked the government to stop divestment of 35 public sector undertakings including BHEL, PowerGrid Corporation and Power Finance Corporation saying the move would adversely affect the development of PSUs and would also go against the principles of the Common Minimum Programme.

The Divestment Development

"While the Board for Reconstruction of Public Enterprises has not yet been formed, the empowered group of ministers is already going ahead with fixing the price for the sale of government equity in these PSUs," CPM Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat told reporters after an hour-long meeting of four left parties‑ CPM, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc.

"The Left parties would like the UPA government to stop this divestment process and discuss the matter seriously as it is of vital concern to the people and the country," Karat said.

"We express serious concern over the divestment move," Karat, who was accompanied by CPI leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja and RSP leader Abani Roy, said, adding that profit-making PSUs could be "given the freedom to mobilize resources in the debt market or through debentures in the capital market without tinkering with public equity."

The CPI(M) leader asserted that the CMP had provided that the PSUs should be allowed individually to raise resources from the market "if they so required."

He said the raising of resources from the capital market should be decided by the concerned PSU "if the concept of their functional autonomy, as stated in the CMP, is to be respected."

The current move would not strengthen the public sector but "only facilitate an easy route for resource mobilization by the finance ministry," Karat and Bardhan said.

Referring to foreign policy issues also discussed at Wednesday's meeting, they said the Left parties would like the government to clarify whether any commitment has been made towards India joining the US-sponsored ballistic missile defence programme.