Setting at rest any confusion over rollback of divestment of cash-rich oil companies in the wake of blue chip oil firms taking a beating in the stock market, Congress on Saturday said it will pursue the reform policy but was against their privatisation as they were "strategic companies".

"Divestment yes. Privatisation, we will have to think. You will have to make a distinction between divestment and privatisation," senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh, who is tipped to become Finance Minister, told PTI after the Congress parliamentary party meeting, which elected Sonia Gandhi as its leader.

Even Bharatiya Janata Party was against privatisation of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Singh said, adding divestment upto 51 per cent of government equity in oil companies was a possibility.

The oil industry was "strategic". The oil companies were also profit-making companies. If they can perform and compete against private oil companies, he wondered why should they be privatised.

"We are not for privatisation as an ideology," he said indicating Congress would not be averse to pursuing this reform measure where privatisation and divestment were in the interest of the country, helped raise resources and provided more elbow-room to public sector undertakings.

Asked what would be the economic agenda of the new Congress-led coalition government, Singh said, "We will have to move further on road to peace, prosperity and economic growth."

"We can't be still and static and provide all answers. We have to progress all around. We have to ensure whatever reforms we contemplate they do address the concerns of the people, our parties and our workers, concerns of social safety net," he said implying that his government would pursue reforms with a human face.

Singh also said he would lay emphasis on addressing the concerns of social sector and infrastructure development.

To a question if economic reforms pursued by the NDA would be continued, Singh said, "Life is not static. If there are aberrations, they needed to be corrected."

Asked if there would be any dilution in Congress' reforms agenda in the face of its alliance with the Left parties, Singh said the Common Minimum Programme was being worked out and it would take a few days to complete it.

Singh is heading the committee, which is entrusted with the task of preparing the Common Minimum Programme. It also includes senior Congress leader Pranab Mukharjee and Jairam Ramesh.

Regarding interest rates, which have fallen by 200 basis points in the last couple of years, Singh said this was an issue, which was in the domain of Reserve Bank of India.