Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to oppose the privatisation of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and termed the Centre’s move as ‘riddle with flaws.’
Kejriwal had met IDBI officials on Friday after which he sent a letter to Modi stating, “I request you to stop the privatisation of IDBI, let the banks recover dues from big industrialists and take strong action against people like (Vijay) Mallya.”
He stated that the Non Performing Assets (NPAs) of IDBI are mainly dues recoverable from big industrial houses and urged the Centre to give a free hand to the officials of the bank to act against those companies and industrialists like Mallya.
“It is very unfortunate that the Government, instead of acting strongly against people like Mallya, is letting them flee the country. There must be so many industrialists who have taken money from the banks. “The Government, on one hand, is stopping the banks from recovering the money while it is selling their shares towards privatising them,” Kejriwal wrote in the letter.
Kejriwal on Friday had alleged that some IDBI officers, who met him over its proposed privatisation, were later ‘grilled’ by the Intelligence Bureau (IB). A delegation of IDBI had sought his support for their demand against the “proposed privatisation of the IDBI.”
The CM said that IDBI is a “profit making” entity and according to the bank’s financial statement, its operating profit before provisions and contingencies till December 2015 stands at `1,117 crore. Kejriwal wondered if any distinction could be made between Congress and BJP alleging the former used to act in a ‘similar fashion’ when it was in power.