Our investment in US-64 not improper: Left

By M. R. Venkatesh

CHENNAI, JULY 25. The reported investment of the Left parties, CPI and CPI(M), in UTI's US-64 scheme has sparked a row over the `political correctness' of their move, as they have been trenchant critics of stock market-related speculation.

While both the parties have come down heavily on the recent UTI fiasco and demanded the resignation of the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, top sources in the CPI and the CPI(M) in New Delhi confirmed to The Hindu today that they had invested quite a lot in the scheme.

The CPI general secretary, Mr. A. B. Bardhan, said his party could not keep its money ``in our safety vault in the party office with the rupee value going down every day'' - a tacit agreement with the maxim that ``idle money does no good to anyone.''

As per their parties' position, collections and funds were not to be invested only in private finance companies, Mr. Bardhan and a senior CPI(M) politburo member said. UTI was Government-owned and created under a special Act of Parliament, which prompted the parties to invest in its most popular mutual fund scheme.

The CPI has invested about Rs. 5 lakhs, which Mr. Bardhan said was ``not much.'' ``All our money, otherwise, is in nationalised banks and public sector undertakings like SAIL, NTPC and the Cement Corporation of India,'' he added. The CPI(M), however, has invested substantially more in US-64, but party sources declined to say out how much.

Justifying their hard-hitting attack on the UTI fiasco - the CPI, in its recent national executive at Bangalore, had an unusually long two-page resolution on the issue - Mr. Bardhan clarified that ``it has nothing to do with our stakes in the US- 64 scheme. ``We are not worried about possibly losing some money,'' the CPI(M) politburo member said. The ``catastrophic effect'' of the suspension of sales and repurchase of US-64 units was of utmost concern to everyone, as it involved the hard-earned money of two crore small investors from the middle class.

Mr. Sinha must own responsibility for the ``scandalous mismanagement of the national economy,'' reiterated Mr. Bardhan, echoing the CPI resolution on UTI. And the CPI(M) functionary

said ``the UTI mismanaging the funds is not something that it is expected to do, as so many teachers, retired pensioners and others depend on it for a decent income.''

Will the parties pull out their investments with the UTI providing an exit option ? ``No,'' said Mr. Bardhan, ``our investments will take two years to mature.''

``We are not taking the exit route as the price offered to the ordinary investors now is just par value, while the repurchase from the corporates some time back was at a higher price,'' he said and alleged that this amounted to ``looting'' the small investors.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Govt. nominee back on UTI Board
Next     : From a dacoit to an MP