Lark's managing director, Jonathan Selwyn, said the Government's timing was a "calculated, cynical ploy".
Mohammed Shafiq, from the Ramadhan Foundation, eloquently summed up the feelings of many who were angered by the Government's timing.
The revelations have raised questions about the NT government's timing ahead of Saturday's election, and about the viability of such a project, which one financial analyst said would be a "stranded asset" before it was even finished.
"We run this very much as a private bank," said Ms. Maor, who has criticized the government's timing in looking to sell a portion of its stake in Leumi, probably by floating the shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Joe Hockey, another opposition leader, responded to her announcement by accusing the government of timing the elections to obfuscate the results of the annual federal budget, which will be released after September.
Some argue that the parties propping up the current administration, like the left-of-center Samajwadi Party in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, may contrive to withdraw support and let the government fall, timing it for national elections this winter.
For the government, the timing could hardly have been worse: this month, India kicked off a two-month marketing campaign for its biggest sale yet of exploration rights for oil and gas, scheduled for October.
Conventional wisdom on civic innovation is that we have all the right ingredients to change government: The timing, the talent, and the technology are all there and if used and blended properly, these "three T's" can positively reshape government.
The peace prize has pushed the issue back to the fore.For Western governments, the timing is unfortunate.
"When it comes to reducing the government's stake, timing will be everything".
