‘Crony capitalism devastating economy’

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are going to sell PSUs to a few corporate houses, charges Kharge

Criticising the Union government’s aggressive disinvestment policy, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were going to sell valuable public sector units (PSUs) that were contributing to the country’s economy to a few corporate houses that were close to the BJP and its leaders. He said that the disinvestment process would have a devastating effect on the economy by rendering millions of people jobless.

“They [the BJP] often question what Congress has done for the country. The fact that the Modi government is planning to earn revenues of ₹6 lakh crore in the next four years by public asset monetisation itself speaks volumes about what Congress has done for the country. There are 366 PSUs in the country which together are making a profit of around ₹1.5 lakh crore every year. They have not been established by the Modi government in the last seven years but by Congress governments over decades after independence. The Congress created these valuable assets that are contributing to the national economy and the BJP is simply selling them at throwaway prices. The BJP’s business is changing the names of existing programmes and institutions and not creating new ones,” Mr. Kharge said.