The Trinamool Congress will support the central government’s initiative of inviting foreign direct investment (FDI) in civil aviation if the latter completes modernisation of the Kolkata airport before the Puja season in October.
Top government sources in Delhi told Business Standard this was the condition laid down by TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, when she met Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh last month.
According to airport officials, modernisation work at Kolkata airport is likely to be completed by July, while it will take another two months to make the new airport operational.
In Kolkata, the TMC refused to make its stand on the issue public. But there is a sense that the party may give in, if it gets what it wants for Bengal.
“The matter is being discussed between the minister and our leader (Banerjee). Our party has decided to not make our stand public on the issue,” senior TMC leader and Union minister of state for urban development Saugata Roy told Business Standard. Roy is understood to be in touch with Singh in his capacity as chairman of the Kolkata Airport Advisory Committee. He is widely seen as one of the negotiators from TMC on the issue.
When asked if the TMC was as stridently opposed to the proposal of allowing foreign carriers to pick up 49 per cent in domestic airlines as it was on FDI in multi-brand retail, he said, “In case of FDI in multi-brand retail, we made our opposition public. Here, we are not making our stand public. You can interpret it the way you want.”
TMC was responsible for stalling the central government’s decision to open the multibrand retail sector to FDI. To prevent similar embarrassment in the civil aviation sector, the Centre decided to get all its allies on board before proceeding.
TMC leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, had told Ajit Singh in April that he’d have to “accelerate and complete the modernisation work of Calcutta airport first and then we will decide on supporting FDI”, the source said.
