Move To Restrict Sia Stake In Tata Venture To 26%

The battlelines have clearly been drawn on the contentious issue of the stalled Tata-Singapore Airlines (SIA) joint venture, with hectic lobbying taking place within and outside the ruling United Front even as political parties gear up for the impending budget session of Parliament.

There is talk of a compromise, which would limit the SIA equity to 26 rather than 40 per cent. However, the government appears to have decided not to risk ruffling various political feathers by clearing the project, at least for now.

Not only is the government chary of giving its opponents a handle just before the budget session of Parliament, it would be awkward for the Cabinet to reverse a decision taken by the United Fronts steering committee until that committee discusses it again.

 

In any case, civil aviation Minister C M Ibrahim, a staunch opponent of the project, is currently away from Delhi. Some of the large industrial groups lobbying against the project are afraid that the Cabinet might clear the project in Ibrahims absence. Their faith in Ibrahim has been shaken after his meeting with project promoter Ratan Tata met him last week.

The anti-Tata lobby is apprehensive that Ibrahim might agree to make a trip to the Gulf on a government assignment while the Tata-SIA project is cleared in his absence.

There are also rumours that civil aviation secretary Yogesh Chandra, who is another staunch opponent of the project, might be replaced.

The lobby pushing the Rs 2,480-crore project says Ibrahim has softened a bit and might agree to a negotiated settlement with considerably lower equity for the foreign partner.

They also express confidence that the opposition from the Congress (I) and the BJP no longer remains as strong as it was earlier. On the advice of former finance minister Manmohan Singh, Congress (I) president Sitaram Kesari is said to have dissociated the party from the lobbying against the project by individual party MPs.

Both lobbies, though, are very uneasy about how various political groups will finally behave.

The issue might be thrashed out at the next steering committee meeting on February 18.

While CPM leader and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu openly spoke for the Tata-SIA project at Sundays meeting, his colleague in Parliament, Somnath Chatterjee, has written to Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda opposing it.

New coal mining policy likely today

Todays Cabinet meeting is likely to finalise a new coal policy allowing private investment in coal mining. So far, private mining has been permitted only in captive coal mines of private units. A regulatory authority on the lines of the one that has been set up for telecom is also likely to be instituted, so that pricing and other matters are removed from the governments purview.