A casual remark by West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu at the United Front steering committee has raised hopes in the Front that the opposition from the Left parties to the Tata-Singapore Airlines may, afterall, not be so strong.
When pressed by his Front colleagues to be present at the next steering committee meeting on February 18, the Communist Chief Minister said he could come provided the flights ran on time. Jyoti Basu said that delay and frequent cancellations of flights made travel uncertain, and yet the government was not allowing the Tatas to run a private airlines with the SIA.
On this, Prime Minister Deve Gowda said that he would ensure that the flights were on time the day Basu travelled for the steering committee meeting, but Basu went further and said that then the pilots might poceed on sick leave. This open, albeit oblique, expression of support for the Tata-SIA was however accompanied with a warning that this was purely his personal opinion and that only Surjeet (CPI-M general secretary) would know the party's views.
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Left partners of the government have been objecting to the Tata-SIA project openly. However, a source close to the Prime Minister did not see any major threat from the Left if the project was actually cleared. He said the Left was opposed to the entry of foreign airlines, but would grudgingly accept if and when the project is cleared as their objection was purely on ideological grounds.
According to him the main hurdle in clearance of the project was the civil aviation minister CM Ibrahim. Ratan Tata has met Ibrahim recently and explained to him the fact that his joint venture was willing to shoulder any social obligation that the Indian Airlines had to bear and that may be prescribed for the private domestic airlines by the government. He said Tata might meet Ibrahim again. Tata has met a number of political leaders in the capital over the past few days. BJP President LK Advani was among those he met on Friday. Even the opposition to the project from the Congress party which is supporting the government from outside, is restricted to a few individuals rather than the entire party, he said. Except for former civil aviation minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and some others, most in the Congress would not oppose the deal.
Though the Union cabinet has ruled out permitting any foreign airlines or airports to hold equity in a private airlines, sources in the government say the fate of the Tata-SIA is not yet sealed.
The civil aviation ministry is to make up its mind on the subject and report to the cabinet. The cabinet is slated to meet on Tuesday.
The Rs 2,480 crore project was pending clearance of the central government for the last three years due to differences in the previous government led by Narrasimha Rao.