The West Bengal government is not in a hurry to auction off its stake in Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) and will take all legal safeguards before sorting out the shareholding issue. State industry minister Partha Chatterjee told FE that the government didn?t have any immediate plan to offer Purnendu Chatterjee’s TCG its first right of refusal.
?We will first have to decide over a strategy as to how to deal with our holding in HPL. After that, we will hold a meeting before going to the HPL management with our plans,? said Partha Chatterjee. He said the date for the meeting hasn?t been decided yet, ?but we would cautiously tread over theissue?.
Purnendu Chatterjee is learnt to have been persuading the government to sort out the issue at the earliest, but the government has been dragging its feet. With the industry minister making a statement in the assembly that its holding in HPL would be put to auction, the HPL management hopes that things would be worked out soon.
An industry department source said the government was trying to weigh the possibility of TCG going to the international court, if things didn?t work in its favour.