New Delhi, Aug. 7: The Left parties are refusing to relent on divestment from Bhel, with senior CPM and CPI leaders saying they are not reconsidering their decision to stay away from the United Progressive Alliance-Left co-ordination committee.

Union finance minister P. Chidambaram had earlier said the Centre will keep on hold its decision to divest 10 per cent of Bhel shares in view of the staunch protests from the Left parties ? the government’s key allies.

However, the Left remains resentful.

“We have not heard anything formally from the government. There is no change in our position,” said senior CPI leader D. Raja.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has indicated the government and the Left will soon find a way out of the impasse, though there is no concrete formula for breaking the deadlock.

Karat presumably did not anticipate that the Bhel row would drag on for so long and had expected a solution before the monsoon session of Parliament began last month.

The CPM had expected the Congress-led government at the Centre to scrap the Bhel divestment decision once the Left made it clear that it was not going to change its stand.

However, the government has not abandoned the divestment and has said it will have more “consultations” on the issue.

“Who are they consulting? What is the government’s stand on the issue?” asked Raja.

The Left, which has in the past turned to Sonia Gandhi for intervention on economic policy, had expected the chairperson of the ruling coalition to intervene on its behalf.

On the Bhel stalemate, Sonia has held consultations with her Left allies, as has Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. However, the government has not yielded to the Left’s pressure.

As far as the Left parties are concerned, the ball is in the government’s court and the Centre cannot toss it back. “The government has to give us a proposal,” said a senior CPM leader.

However, the Left has got a reprieve regarding the National Employment Guarantee Act, which is expected to be passed in this session of Parliament. The Centre, in its draft bill, had restricted the scope of the employment guarantee scheme, but a parliamentary standing committee headed by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh restored the bill to its original scope and definition.

The Congress believes the Left parties are slowing down the government’s economic agenda and that they should settle for a policy of give and take such as stopping its continued opposition to foreign direct investment and concentrate on policies like the employment guarantee scheme.