Sparking turbulence

There is unease in sections of the government on whether the Jet-Etihad deal should be the first to be cleared after FDI rules for aviation sector were changed

Sparking turbulence

There is unease in sections of the government on whether the Jet-Etihad deal should be the first to be cleared after FDI rules for aviation sector were changed. Given that Jet has been under the gaze of the security establishment in the past for ownership and funding issues,there are fears that the deal may attract trouble. Already,the fact that the partner is a Gulf airliner like Etihad is a point of concern because it may be perceived as another way to divert Indian passenger traffic to the Gulf after Emirates cornered a large share of Indian passengers headed west by offering connections from its hub in Dubai. These murmurs are getting louder even as Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal is in the middle of his own brand of fierce lobbying,reminiscent of times when he single-handedly managed to thwart Tatas first venture into aviation in the 1990s,mainly on the strength of his friendship with Pramod Mahajan.

A matter of privilege

WHILE the government came in for harsh attack from the DMK and criticism from some of the opposition parties after the CBI searched the premises of M K Stalin,there were some lighter moments too. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath,who disapproved of the search in the morning itself,was heard pulling the leg of DoPT minister V Narayanasamy,the minister in-charge of CBI,in the Parliament corridors. Kamal Nath was heard saying that he has told the DMK members to give a breach of privilege notice against Narayanasamy,and assured them that the Congress would support it.

ministers meet

A NUMBER of senior ministers,including Finance Minister P Chidambaram,are going to make an appearance at the two-day social editors conference beginning Friday. Railway Minister Pawan Bansal,who was also in the list of speakers,has decided to give it the slip,however. In his place,the Railway Board chairman has been included. Bansal,it is learnt,is travelling to Chandigarh to be present on the occasion of Partap Singh Bajwa taking over as the new chief of the Punjab Congress unit. The editors conference itself was originally scheduled to take place in Bangalore but was shifted to Delhi earlier this week after it became known that the dates of the Karnataka elections would be announced,and therefore the code of conduct would be in force in the state.

Home revamp

FIRST it named one of its joint secretaries as the official spokesperson,then assigned another joint secretary to help the Home Minister with his speeches and statements,and now it emerges that the Home Ministry is in the process of allocating a new room for media briefings. A large room on the ground floor of the Home Ministry,which used to serve as the operations room,is being turned into a room for media briefings. The operations room is being shifted to another,as yet undisclosed,location.

Food for thought

THE entire top brass of the Prasar Bharati,led by its CEO Jawhar Sircar,was at the Food Ministry on Wednesday,and had a meeting with Food Minister K V Thomas and other officials. The delegation included Directors General of Doordarshan and D D News,AIR and AIR News. Incidentally,just a couple of days back,the Cabinet gave its nod to the ambitious Food Security Bill.