Congress Opposes Govt Move On A-I

The Congress yesterday strongly opposed the government move to what it called `hand over the Air India management to foreign airlines'. The party is not opposed to disinvestment as such but wants that the ownership must remain with Indians.

"It is a tragic decision by the government to hand over a strategic sector like the national carrier to foreigners. The decision goes against national interest", Congress spokesman Prithviraj Chauhan said yesterday. When asked whether the party's stand would apply also to the disinvestment of domestic public sector carrier Indian Airlines, Chauhan said that for the present he was speaking on the Air India disinvestment.

 

The Congress argument is that the government never made any honest attempt to professionally run the national carrier. A professional managemnet could have done the job of turning around the airlines.

If the government felt that it did not have the required funds it should have found an Indian partner to turn around the company.

The party was refering to the government decision to disinvest 60 per cent in the equity of Air India out of which fourty percent would be disinvested to strategic partner.

Out of the 40 percent, a foreign investor including airlines could bid for 26 percent. An strategic partner could bid for either the entire 40 per cent on its own, or in alliance with a foreign partner, in which case the Indian partner would bid for 14 per cent equity.

The swadeshi lilt to the Congress' public face comes on the heels of an ongoing debate within the Congress of the need for a mid-course correction in its economic policies. While a strong group feels the party should formally effect a correction in its economic policy by forming a group and discussing it within the party fora, there is another group in the party which says that there was enough play in the party's economic policy enunciated in its election manifesto of 1998 which allows it to change its policy nuances to suit a given situatation.

This group points to the paragraph in the manifesto which talks about reforms with a human face. So far, it is the latter view that appears to have succeeded.