New Delhi, January 16
Mr Praful Patel, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, is believed to have threatened to resign from the Union Cabinet if the privatisation of Mumbai and Delhi airport is not announced within a week.
Mr Patel met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with NCP chief and his leader Sharad Pawar, Union Minister for Agriculture, last week in this connection. According to well informed sources, Mr Patel made it clear that he would quit rather than be “reduced to a lame duck and a cipher in the eyes of the Airport Authority.’’ The deferred deadline for a decision is January 24.
Sources say Mr Patel told the Prime Minister that the process had been under way for nearly 20 months and he was not the only person involved. It involved an Empowered Group of Ministers, the Planning Commission and the PM himself. Mr Patel is believed to have said that he did not want to be held “a hostage to the politicisation of the process” and if the government could not even take basic decisions involving infrastructure he for one “was not willing to cling to office.”
He is said to have told Dr Manmohan Singh that “you and I both gave a commitment to the country if any changes have to be made people are welcome to suggest but, the process and the deadline cannot be sabotaged by vested interests.”
When
contacted, Mr Patel refused to comment but, significantly did not deny that he had threatened to put in his papers. Mr Patel is learnt to have said that he did not “need to be a minister for lifestyle” and had
viewed his assignment as an opportunity to make a contribution.
Other sources in the higher echelons of the government confirm that Mr Patel had expressed his keenness to quit and said that the PM heard him out and expressed concern that the process of modernistion of the two metro airports was being stymied.
Mr Pawar’s presence at the meeting is meant to be the NCP’s way of sending a political signal and to underline the gravity of Mr Patel’s move.
Earlier, sources reveal that an angry Mr Patel had told the EGOM that “he was in office at the pleasure of Mr Pawar who only had the power to remove him.” He is learnt to have said that it was all very well for E Sreedharan, Delhi Metro chief, to offer suggestions but it was not part of his brief. “We have to take a decision and stop procrastinating.” he reportedly said.
Mr Patel feels that he has been left carrying the can for a process and decision that involved a large section of the government. With complaints about the poor state of the two metro airports bursting at the seams increased traffic and a freeze on fresh investment because of the ongoing process of privatisation Mr Patel feels is in a no win situation.
The contentious process has been bogged down with several allegations of favouritism and a flawed selection process and the emergence of only two short-listed bidders. The Left has been vehemently opposing the privatisation saying it will prevent the government from going ahead.
The writer is an anchor with Janmat TV channel, she writes regularly for The Tribune.
