Persisting with its demand to allow PSUs to bid for divested oil sector public sector undertakings, the Sangh Parivar has declined to attach much significance to the opinion of Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee on divestment of BPCL and HPCL.
"We have never questioned the government's right on the issue," explained SJM convener Murlidhar Rao. However, the SJM leadership still maintains that the government has been speaking in many voices on this issue.
"Our opposition relates to the divestment process as a whole," Rao said.
The swadeshi faction is irked over the manner in which the government has initially agreed to allow PSUs to bid for the oil sector public sector undertakings.
Even sources close to Union Defence Minister George Fernandes point out that in the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to clinch the issue, the decision to allow PSUs for bidding was accepted in principle.
But what is regarded as a clear volte-face by the SJM and Fernandes-loyalists is a determined move by the government to disallow PSUs bidding for divestment of the HPCL -- the only oil sector PSU which will go for strategic sale.
"It remains a mystery as to who is influencing whom, said Rao when asked about his organisation's stance on the issue.
The possibilities are that the RSS-BMS-SJM combine will launch an all-out attack against the government if their viewpoint on the issue is not heeded.
Given the prevailing mood in the pro-reform faction within the government, there is a clear indication that the divestment would become meaningless exercise if the PSUs were allowed to bid.
It appears very difficult for the government to extricate itself from the dilemma without giving in to one faction-either to the Sangh Parivar or the pro-reform section within the Hindutva fold.
With state assembly elections drawing near, a impression of conflict between the government and the Sangh Parivar will be politically unsustainable for the BJP.
Another aspect that worries the BJP is the fact that Fernandes, who avoids commenting publicly on the issue, will also pitch in with the Sangh Parivar on the issue.
By all indications, the opinion of Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee is unlikely to change the political calculations which have hemmed in the government on divestment of oil sector public sector undertakings for so long.
© 2025