'NDA is so loose... So much for whether BJP or Cong has more glue to keep allies attached'

In this Idea Exchange, Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs (Independent Charge), speaks about the Congress's allies, the Companies' Bill and lobbying in India. This session was moderated by Senior Assistant Editor D K Singh

D K Singh: One after another, the allies of the UPA have been quitting the government. First it was the TMC, now the DMK. Does the fault lie with the ally or is the Congress unable to run a coalition government?

Sachin Pilot: The Congress has maintained a stable government for the last nine years with its allies. Unfortunately, there are some allies who are not with us any more. But the future is pregnant with possibilities and we will always try to make sure that we work with our allies and take anybody on board who is willing to work with us for the betterment of our country. I don't think it is a matter of finding fault with the allies. There are political compulsions related to the states that have led to one or two allies not being with us anymore. But let's talk about the Opposition. BJP is the principal opposition party. Now being in opposition and getting everybody together should have been an easy task. But if you look at the numbers in the NDA in the last five years, they've had problems with Om Prakash Chautala, Naveen Patnaik and Nitish Kumar. The NDA has become very loose despite being in the Opposition. So much for the question of which of the two parties—Congress and BJP—has more glue to which allies can stick to.

Shruti Srivastava: After the Sahara case, have you identified companies which have violated the private placement aspect of the companies law? What action has been taken against such companies?

Sachin Pilot: Many companies have misused the private placement aspect of the companies' law in the past. In the new Companies Bill, we've made it far more stringent for these companies to come clean by way of disclosures. Private placements are required for companies to raise capital without getting listed. There are restrictions on how much and where you can do it. There have always been loopholes which people have exploited. We need to tighten those loopholes. More effective would be to make sure that people are able to recover their money. I have just signed MoUs between the IT Department, the Finance Ministry, the Economic Intelligence Unit and our own technology unit within the SFIO to make sure that we collate the data.

... contd.

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