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'No valid reason for opposition to Nalco divestment'

Though the decision to go for strategic divestment in aluminium major Nalco was being strongly opposed by some sections, no valid reason had so far been presented to buttress the argument, a top economist said in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

Nalco had been chosen as a non-strategic PSU for privatisation but no valid argument had so far been put forward against the move except the slogan that the company was the 'pride of Orissa', Jagdish Shettigar, member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, told newsmen.

"I heard Chief Minister Navin Patnaik saying that Nalco is the pride of Orissa, but it will continue to remain so even in the private sector," he said. "It's not the Kohinoor diamond that someone can take it away from the state."

On Patnaik's demand for convening a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance to discuss the Nalco issue, Shettigar said there was nothing wrong in having a dialogue but it was for the prime minister and the NDA convenor George Fernandes to decide.

Asked if the chief minister was not being taken seriously by the Centre, the economist retorted, "How can it be? He is part of the NDA."

"We are, however, clear in our mind that divestment is good for the country", he said.

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