Standing committee row: Air India report not taken up, Oppn MPs walk out of panel meet

The contentious report reportedly recommends that disinvestment of the national carrier should not be done immediately, but considered after looking at the results of the 10-year turnaround plan ending in 2022. The draft report, according to sources, talks about need for the government to look at options other than disinvestment at a time AI has started showing operational profit.

As BJP MP Rakesh Singh officiated as acting chair of the meeting, his party colleagues voiced disgruntlement over the report having been leaked before it had been formally adopted and said they had written to the chairman against its adoption. According to sources, 12 BJP MPs have written to the chairman.

Committee chairman O’Brien, who missed the meeting because his flight was delayed, declined to comment. “Proceedings of a Parliamentary Committee are not discussed in the media,” he said. He was quoted by PTI as saying, “Parliament and parliamentary institutions are being destroyed by this government. They (BJP) need counselling”.

An MP present at the meeting said: “… The fact that on the table lay a paper on Buddhist circuit took us by surprise. We were more astounded because many of the MPs protesting against the report had not attended any of the discussions on Air India…. Yet now they were the most vocal against the report.”

As Opposition MPs protested against the change in agenda, BJP MPs asked how a draft report was leaked to media. The committee was told that the Air India report had been withdrawn.