Political opposition is likely to continue against Jet-Etihad deal. Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy has written again to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the India-UAE “bilateral” and the Jet-Etihad proposed deal should be put on hold until a thorough investigation was made.
He accused the Centre of showing “enormous and unbecoming haste” in approving the deal. He said ‘effective control’ of the airline needs to be examined in the context of the arrangements envisaged between the shareholders.
“I believe that the proposed operational arrangement between Jet Airways and Etihad airlines is in conflict with the civil aviation regulation relating to ‘ownership’ and ‘effective control’ of an airline,” he said in the letter. He urged the Centre to verify the Indian ownership and control which is “supposedly in the hands of an NRI, Naresh Goyal.”
“Eighty-four per cent is held in the erstwhile OCB – Tail Winds where the ownership and funding has been questioned for many years without any real answers emerging,” he said. Swamy added that it was essential to examine the ownership of Tail Winds Ltd registered in Isle of Man.