Yechury denies giving go-ahead to FDI in aviation

New Delhi: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader and the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Civil Aviation, Sitaram Yechury, has denied Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee's charge that he gave the go-ahead for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the cash-strapped sector.

Yechury told media here that as a former central cabinet minister, Banerjee, should have known that the standing committee did not have the mandate for taking such a decision.

"As a union cabinet minister in both the BJP-led NDA regime and in the Congress-led UPA regime, the Trinamool chief should know that these are matters which are called executive decisions, that are entirely in the domain of the executive, i.e., the government. This matter was never referred to the committee. The committee was never asked to make a comment on this, and therefore, what has been stated, that an approval was given for this policy, is an absolute falsehood," he said.

Yechury said his party had been a consistent fighter against FDI and privatization in civil aviation and there are many documents and records to prove it.

"It is only our party which had moved a statutory resolution in parliament, which is rarely moved on an issue in this sector. I, as Chairman of the committee, can cite arious reports which have been adopted unanimously recommending to the government not to take this path", Yechury added.

The aviation reform was among a series of "big bang" economic reforms launched last week. They are seen as crucial to reviving India's flagging economic growth, reining in a bloated fiscal deficit and warding off the spectre of a credit rating downgrade.