Chidambaram accused the Government of selling GAIL shares cheap but had done precisely the same when he was in charge, Sinha thundered. ``What if I was to turn around and say this was scandalous, the way he has said now'', Sinha asked.

MTNL shares, according to Sinha, were quoting at a high of Rs 315 on June 17, 1997 but the Government did not disinvest at this price. By October, the prices fell to Rs 275, and on December 2, Chidambaram's government approved the sale at Rs 233 per share -- three weeks later, after the government had sold cheap, prices rose to Rs 268. So, Chidambaram don't preach, was Sinha's refrain.

This is precisely what happened in the case of GAIL, Sinha told the press at the Economic Editors' Conference on Wednesday. No one canpredict market price, he argued.

Six months ago, the government tried to sell GAIL shares in the local market and got only Rs 66 at the time. As for selling GAIL's shares to competitors like Enron and British Gas, Sinha said since the shares are openly traded, they could have bought them anytime.

And yes, it was because of Enron and British Gas that the government got an offer of Rs 70 -- the previous best was Rs 65. The fact that Enron and British Gas have chosen to repose their faith in GAIL, Sinha said -- oblivious of how it may sound to the swadeshi brigade -- is something that should make India feel proud.

Sinha also chose to defend his colleague P R Kumaramangalam's statement on Tuesday that the State-owned NTPC would be buying another State-owned company NHPC for Rs 4,500 crore, and that this money would be used to bridge the budget deficit. ``This is not the same as cross-holdings'', Sinha replied, asked whether this was not unfair and similar to the Government getting oil companies tobuy each other's shares last year.