In a major rift within the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over the Telecom Regulatory Authority Act Amendment Bill, the Nationalist Congress Party — a key UPA constituent — announced on Saturday that it would not oppose the TRAI Act Amendment Bill which seeks to remove the legal hurdles in the appointment of as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
A day after the NDA Government introduced the bill to amend the TRAI Act Bill in the lok Sabha amid protests by the Congress, Trinamool Congress and AAP, NCP president Sharad Pawar said: “We will not oppose the (TRAI Act Amendment) Bill in Parliament. There is no need to take such an extreme step. There have been instances earlier when retired bureaucrats have rejoined the Government”.
Talking to mediapersons here, Pawar sought to buttress his argument by citing the example of TKA Nair, an IAS officer of Punjab cadre, who after retiring from service became principal secretary to Manmohan Singh when he was the Prime Minister.
The NCP chief said that the TRAI Act Amendment Bill — introduced by Telecom Minister Ravishankar Prasad in lok Sabha on Friday — was to legalise the appointment of Nripendra Mishra, a retired bureaucrat, as the principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not to facilitate his entry to any private company. “It is not as if a person has left Government service and joined Reliance or another private sector. He (Mishra) has returned to the Government sector,” he said.
Mishra, a 1967 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, who retired in 2009, joined the PMO the same day the ordinance was promulgated on May 28. The NCP has six members each in the lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. While there will not be any hindrance to the passage of the Bill in lok Sabha where the ruling BJP has absolute majority of its own, the NDA will have a difficulty in ensuring the passage of Rajya Sabha, in which the Congress is the single largest party with 68 MPs. It is in Rajya Sabha that the NCP’s support will come in handy for the NDA Government. Pawar, however, expressed his serious reservations about the Modi Government’s decision to increase FDI limit from 26 per cent to 49 per cent in Defence sector. “The Government will have to be cautious in allowing 49 per cent FDI in research, Defence research and development organisation and other sensitive areas in the larger interest of the country,” he said.
The NCP chief said that his party supported the Congress’ demand that it be given the leader of Opposition’s post in lok Sabha. “Our six MPs have signed a joint letter demanding the loP’s post, submitted by the Congress-led UPA to the Speaker,” he said. “The institution of leader of the Opposition needs to be conserved as loP is a party to key Government decisions including the appointment of central vigilance commissioner,” Pawar said.
On the alliance with the Congress for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls, the NCP chief said the final decision on the electoral tie-up would taken by the Congress’ central leadership and he had held three meetings with the senior leaders of the Sonia Gandhi-led party.
On his nephew and deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s threat to go it alone in the Assembly polls in the event of the Congress not conceding 144 out of 288 seats to it, Pawar said: “As NCP chief, I have not decided anything as such. Only deciding on seat sharing will not help us, we also have to think in terms of winning them as well. The NCP may be contesting 144, more or even fewer seats”.
On the indications given by CM Prithviraj Chavan that he would lead the Congress in the Assembly polls, Pawar said that during his recent meetings with senior leaders in New Delhi, the Congress had proposed that he lead the Cong-NCP alliance’s campaign in the polls. “The CM was not present during these meetings,” he said, when his attention was drawn to Chavan’s statement on Friday that he was not aware of Congress having asked the NCP to lead the DF’s joint poll campaign.