Divestment debate: Shourie takes a swipe at the Shiv Sena

In what is likely to add fuel to an already raging fire, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie took the Shiv Sena head on today, obliquely sug...

In what is likely to add fuel to an already raging fire, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie took the Shiv Sena head on today, obliquely suggesting that they had been seeking favours from him in the sale of public sector undertakings (PSUs).

The Sena, he said, had approached him repeatedly to seek favours for hotelier Ajit Kerkar over the latter’s acquisition of the Centaur Juhu Hotel in Mumbai. This happened, he said, when Kerkar was unable to pay for the hotel and the government did not encash the bank guarantee.

‘‘Ask them (Shiv Sena) who rang me up four times’’ to plead Kerkar’s case, the minister said at a function in New Delhi.

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In a speech aimed generally at opponents of privatisation, Shourie mentioned the reported quote of Coal and Mines minister Uma Bharti —‘‘Those who are trivialising my fight on Nalco will bite the dust.’’ The Prime Minister, Shourie said, had clarified the government’s position

on the Nalco issue to Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday. ‘‘Does it mean that the PM will bite the dust?”, he asked.

On the sale of the Mumbai-based Centaur Airport Hotel by Batra Hospitalities to the Sahara group, he said that since it was an outright sale of the hotel, the new buyer could sell it as he wished, there was no lock-in period.

Batra had paid Rs 83 crore to buy the property and made a Rs 32-crore profit in the sale to Sahara.

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