New Delhi, September 20:

Left parties, frequently blamed for stalling economic reforms, are not the real stumbling block on the road to progress but the people are, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said.

"A lot of people say that's because of Left's power in the government, but it's the public that opposes privatisation," he said, replying to a query on why privatisation was a sensitive issue in India.

In an interview to a publication, Ahluwalia said the general public was opposed to privatisation of state-owned enterprises although they feel that public sector was inefficient and corrupt.

"Solid support for privatisation doesn't actually exist. This is ironic, because there's no ideological support for the public sector. If you ask the public at large, 'Do you think that the public sector is a paragon of virtue whereas the private sector is embodiment of vice?', they would say no -- in fact, the public sector is inefficient and corrupt," he said.

The public, he added, feels that large privatization means undervaluation of assets ‘in some funny kind of way and that someone -- robber barons -- will make lot of money’.

Referring to privatisation of public sector banks, he said, "it's possible that over time people won't mind dilution of government equity as long as the government remains there."

Ahluwalia said 30 years ago only five per cent of the banking system was in the private sector. "Today it's 25 per cent, and 15 years down the road it could be 50 per cent. My personal feeling is that we ought to get out of being majority owners of public sector banks."