Digvijaya accuses BJP of shutting down PSUs

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday accused the BJP of attempting to shut down Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and replacing them with private organisations.

"Before 2014, nearly 37 to 40 lakh people were employed in LIC. But after five years, 25 lakh LIC agents have stopped working due to the policies of the Narendra Modi government," Singh told reporters here.

He alleged that the government forced the LIC to give an interest-free loan amounting to Rs 1.50 lakh crore to the Railways in 2015.

"The Modi government also forced the LIC, which is a 'Navratna' company, to bail out IDBI bank having higher NPAs. The LIC cannot buy shares of not more than 15 per cent in any organisation. But the IDBI bank was forced to purchase 51 per cent of shares," Singh claimed.

The senior Congress leader alleged that the BJP's policies are against the stakeholders and LIC agents.

"If this situation persists, the LIC may not be able to return the money of its policyholders in the future," Singh claimed.

Singh, who is a candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, alleged that around 45,000 employees were retrenched from BSNL.

"In the case of BHEL, the numbers of employees have come down from 22,000 to 6,500. BJP is encouraging the private companies and want to shut down the PSUs," he alleged.