Patel takes Left turn on airport privatisation

NEW DELHI: Civil aviation ministerPraful Patel is walking the extra mile to convince the Left parties on theprivatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports. On Wednesday, he met CPIgeneral secretary A B Bardhan and CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury with thecivil aviation secretary in tow. On Thursday, the minister dropped in at aone-room flat in Vithalbhai Patel house to convince a CPM MP.Allthis was to no avail. By Thursday afternoon, Yechury and CPM''s trade union(CITU) leaders were at Patel''s Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan office gate demonstratingagainst any move to privatise or lease the two airports which fetch 70% of theprofits of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Apart from itsstated position against privatisation of profit-making PSUs, the Left''s argumentis that the leasing of these two airports will turn AAI into a sickPSU.All speculation of a behind-the-scenes "settlement" between theLeft and the UPA government over this issue got grounded with the AAI EmployeesUnion releasing a letter written by CPM general secretary Harkishan SinghSurjeet to Patel. The veteran Marxist has pointed out that if theprivatisation move is to modernise airports, then it could be done with thePSU''s reserves worth around Rs 2,000 crore.Apparently, Patel tookdifferent pleas with the Left leaders. To one, he said that it is notprivatisation but a mere 30-year lease and that the employees'' interests wouldbe protected. To another, he said he is merely implementing PM Manmohan Singh''sagenda.Thus, the first serious confrontation between the Leftparties and the UPA government which they support could be over predictablelines: on privatisation. CPM politburo member and CITU generalsecretary M K Pandhe has attacked the government for "a totally wronginterpretation of the CMP to privatise a profit-making PSU".CPI''sdeputy leader in Lok Sabha and AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta pointedout that the first major decision of the government itself is a violation of thevery understanding over which the Left has extended support to thegovernment.The Left leaders'' dilemma is that they ran a campaign inthe last six years against privatisation and pro-market policies and now theycannot even be perceived to be supporting a government that continues the NDA''seconomic policies. In fact, Surjeet''s letter underlines this aspectthat the present government is trying to pursue NDA''s policies.TheLeft is equally livid about reports that there could be a cut in the interestrates of provident fund and small savings. This was a poll issue formost Left leaders and they seem to be in no mood to approve of suchpolicies.