P Vasool, Badla Ram Slam Bse Chief Damani On The Net

The exchange chief, who is known for his gusto to take on heavyweights like Reliance, UTI, G V Ramakrishna and arch rival, the National Stock Exchange, faced a barrage of uncomfortable and controversial questions for two long hours from all quarters.

Damani was not his usual firebrand self, and was a mere shadow of his aggressive self at the chat show. The show virtually turned into a farce, with questions being hurled more in an effort to revive Damani's personalised battles with his adversaries than to understand the BSE's growth plans, the Indian capital markets and the future for the small investor.

 

Instead, from the terminal flowed issues like the Damani-GV Ramakrishna war of words, his head-on battle to delist Reliance from the BSE, the argument with NSE chief R H Patil over who copied whom. This can be judged from the fact that Damani spent his time ducking questions from people who called themselves D Ambani, R H Patil, G V Ramakrishna, Kamal Kabra, Badla Ram and P Vasool in the interview.

Queries were raised relating to the Reliance controversy, just 25 minutes into the interview, with several attempts made to entice an opinion from Damani on the issue. Damani however declined to reply to 3 questions posed on the RIL issue.

Replying to queries of his earlier confrontation with Sebi, Damani said, the reason was the arrogant and dictatorial attitude of the then Sebi chairman. He never believed in a dialogue with the result that the brokers were left with no choice except confrontation.''

Damani commented on the securities scam, stating it was a scandal in the banking sector.

If vigilance in this sector is lax, the history may repeat,'' he said. As far as the exchange is concerned, there was no scam and none is likely in the foreseeable future.''