Mumbai: Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi has said that the Opposition is "not studying the disinvestment issue...a topic on which they can really bring the government into serious trouble."

In his "The Speaker's Diary", an account of his 365 days as the Speaker, released on June 9, Joshi, whose party is opposed to the Centre's disinvestment policy, says the Opposition was not making enough efforts to corner the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over the issue.

Following unruly scenes in Lok Sabha on December 18, 2002 over disinvestment of Hotel Centaur, Joshi in his diary observes, "Unfortunately, the government is also not making its stance clear over the issue."

Joshi, who makes it a point to meet Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray every week, quotes the latter as saying, "If right policies are adopted, then BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) can win the next general elections…but who will tell them?"

PTI