Fresh trouble for Jet-Etihad deal post FIPB clearance

FIPB clearance to Jet-Etihad deal is likely to face rough weather with a BJP MP saying he would raise the issue in Parliament and Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy threatening to move court.

"The deal approved by the FIPB with riders is more alarming. Though it is yet to be cleared by the Cabinet, I will raise the issue in the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament," BJP MP Nishikant Dubey told PTI on phone.

Dubey, who has written a series of letters to the Prime Minister as well as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner on the issue, said the proposed deal was "against national interest".

Swamy too reiterated his threat of moving court in the eventuality of the deal being cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

"We knew it (FIPB approval). But Sebi, CCI and Cabinet have yet to clear it. Despite all the cut and paste job (tweaking of the shareholders agreement),

the illegalities continue and its fundamentals remain unchanged," he said.

Swamy said if the CCEA gave a go-ahead to the proposal, he would challenge it in the court, about which he has already apprised the Prime Minister in his very first letter.

The Janata Party chief, who shot off another letter to the Prime Minister on Monday, claimed the deal had "serious national security" implications.

"I expect that you would put a hold on both the India-UAE bilateral and the Jet-Etihad proposed deal until a thorough independent investigation was made.

"But I find instead enormous and unbecoming haste in the manner in which the entire transaction has been sought to be railroaded."

On the issue of effective control, he said, "Even the most developed economies like the US and the EU have clear restrictions on ownership and effective control in order to safeguard their national security and interest."