Sonia Gandhi lashes out in Parliament, accuses government of 'surreptitiously' trying to privatise Rae Bareli coach factory

Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said that government was seeking to surreptitiously "privatise" the Modern Coach Factory in Rae Bareli, adding that it has caused uncertainty among employees and their families.

Raising the issue during zero hour in the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi said that privatization leads to thousands of people getting unemployed and is against the objectives for which the plant had been set up.

"The real concern is that they have chosen Modern Coach Factory for the experiment," the Rae Bareli lawmaker said. She added that the factory had been set up by the UPA government to boost manufacturing in the country and is the "most modern plant" that makes good quality coaches at cheap prices.

"The employees have also not been taken into confidence. It is a matter of sadness that their and their families' future is in danger," she said, adding "I urge the government to protect the Modern Coach Factory and other PSUs and give respect to the farmers and their families." 

 The UPA chairperson also expressed concerns over the condition of some public sector undertakings, including HAL, BSNL and MTNL.
"Their condition is not hidden from anyone," she said.

Gandhi said privatization leads to priceless assets going to a few private hands at very cheap prices and thousands getting unemployed She also expressed unhappiness over BJP-led NDA government's decision to merge rail budget with general budget. 

Sonia Gandhi was the only Congress leader to win a seat in Uttar Pradesh - India's most electorally significant state - in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, as she held her Rae Bareli bastion against BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by garnering 55.8% votes against her challenger's 38.36%. Her son and successor as Congress president Rahul Gandhi, however, lost his bastion of Amethi versus BJP's Smriti Irani, meaning that the Congress party somehow managed to fall from its rock-bottom 2014 performance of winning just 2 out of 80 U.P seats.