NCP meet to discuss Enron?

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, SEPT. 21. All the bigwigs of the Nationalist Congress Party, from its leader, Mr. Sharad Pawar, to its MLAs, are meeting at Baramati for a two- day ``brainstorming session'' to discuss political issues. The ``haste'' of the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, and his party in announcing a judicial probe into all aspects of the Enron deal is likely to be discussed.

The meeting follows the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Chagan Bhujbal's sudden visit to Baramati to brief Mr. Pawar of the nuances of all the Cabinet Ministers when the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into the Enron deal was approved. All the left-of-centre allies of the NCP had demanded the inquiry. The NCP too was in favour of a probe but thought the timing was injudicious. Its Ministers said so at the Cabinet meeting but were overruled.

The NCP, which had initially opposed the probe, fell in line due to the pressure of the Left which increasingly isolated it on the issue. The NCP view was that since the Enron- led consortium, which built and operated the Dabhol Power Company, was simultaneously receiving the Centre's attention for a possible fast-track resolution of disputes which could lead to the exit of the DPC with minimal damage to Maharashtra, the Government need not act in haste.

The NCP would have liked the probe announcement to have been made later so that it did not jeopardise the efforts to ensure that the DPC did not take the most convenient option for itself - the arbitration mode - to bill the Maharashtra State Electricity Board $ 5 billion.

Mr. Babanrao Pachpute, Maharashtra's NCP chief, now in Baramati for preparatory meetings with Mr. Pawar, told The Hindu over the phone that the agenda was limited to discussing the party's approach to elections to the local bodies. But other sources did not rule out discussion on Enron.

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