Public-private partnership?

Here’s an odd thing. The government-owned banks, led by India’s largest bank State Bank of India, account for the bulk of Kingfisher Airlines’ Rs 7,000-odd crore of debt. Yet government representatives are curiously reticent on the subject of the airline’s licence suspension or its unpaid employees. Finance Minister P Chidambaram stopped to answer queries from the press on the sidelines of an event on Tuesday. The questions had to do with Kingfisher Airlines, and not the economy or financial inclusion as the finance minister expected. He decided to leave soon after without responding. On the same day, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh refused to intervene on the issue of Kingfisher’s staff salaries, saying it was a private company.