Speculation was rife that civil aviation minister Ajit Singh was unhappy with certain content in a press note and documents made public by the PMO two days ago. PMO documents had revealed that Mr Singh had initially approached the PMO on the issue of the bilateral entitlement-hike over-riding certain objections raised earlier by an inter-ministerial group. “The civil aviation minister has the power to overrule the IMG objections. He does not need the Prime Minister’s approval for that,” said a source.
Sources also said there was no question of any change in the new bilateral entitlements recently decided between India and the UAE though there would be changes in the Cabinet note on the India-UAE agreement to incorporate the detailed discussions on the matter and the “pros and cons” of the agreement.
The PMO had revealed recently that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted the matter to be discussed by the Cabinet. The PMO had wanted the Cabinet note on the matter “to reflect the sequence of events and discussions better” but had never sought any change in the decision on the note. The civil aviation ministry is now likely to record all objections from various quarters in the Cabinet note while advancing arguments in the note on why these objections are not valid. Mr Ajit Singh remains confident that both the Jet-Etihad FDI deal and the India-UAE aviation agreement will be cleared by the Cabinet. “Besides, the recent India-UAE aviation bilateral entitlement agreement has already been signed after receiving the PM’s nod earlier,” aviation ministry sources said.
Sources also said Mr Ajit Singh’s party, the RLD, would remain firmly within the UPA alliance.
The PMO had earlier formally made public the series of events that made it clear that the PM, along with other senior ministers, including Mr Ajit Singh, had given the “in-principle” approval that paved the way for India to agree to the astronomical India-UAE bilateral entitlement-hike in the number of weekly seats from 13,300 to nearly 50,000 over a period of three years. However, the PM had directed that the matter pertaining to the bilaterals hike eventually be brought to the Cabinet for approval before operationalising any agreement. The PMO had also said there was no disagreement within the government on the matter.