Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should talk to experts and all political parties to tide over the economic crisis, criticising the Centre’s largest asset-sale exercise involving five companies.

The chief minister, who was speaking to reporters in Murshidabad, stressed that shoring up funds by selling government stake in central public sector units was at best a temporary solution.

“The Centre should look for a permanent solution instead of opting for such stopgap measures. You need economic stability for a permanent solution, otherwise the economic disaster will only intensify,” Mamata said.

She questioned the Centre’s policy through which it claims it would raise Rs 1.76 lakh crore to Rs 1.80 lakh crore from multiple disinvestments.

“But so many disinvestments may lead to disinvestment of the country itself. Then what will the central government be left with? How will the country be run? I feel these aspects should be seriously considered,” said Mamata, who also expressed concern about the deteriorating “employment situation”.

She suggested a consultative process.

“It is an elected government and it should be allowed to work…. I feel the Prime Minister should talk to experts in the country and hold an all-party meeting to overcome the crisis. Everybody’s opinion should be considered so that there is no employment deterioration,” Mamata said.

The Trinamul Congress supremo said participation of private partners under the public-private partnership model could be allowed in specific areas, as she had done as railway minister, but selling off companies was not a wise decision.

In the same breath, Mamata also spoke about the Centre’s decision to amalgamate several PSU banks. “Several schemes of our government run through banks, so if the UBI’s headquarters is shifted out of the state, the future of these schemes might be in question.”

Mamata expressed concern about declining trends in consumption expenditure, which is believed to be one of the major indicators of people’s well being. “My worry is people are not spending. They are scared to spend money.”