NDA govt will fall in a year; INDIA bloc may pose as alternative: AAP's Sanjay Singh
Noida, Jun 13: Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday claimed that the coalition government at the Centre will not be able to run beyond a year and the INDIA bloc will present itself as an alternative whenever there is an opportunity.
The Rajya Sabha MP also said that if any of the NDA allies puts up its candidate for the post of Speaker in the Lok Sabha then INDIA bloc parties may consider extending support to them.
The AAP leader, who was in Noida for a meeting of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit, also slammed the BJP over the jailing of the opposition leader.
"Today you have put our chief Arvind Kejriwal in jail, Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Hemant Soren in jail. I too was in jail for six months. Sanjay Rawat, Anil Dshmukh etc are in jail. The BJP will break down its ally parties. You want to do politics by suppressing the opposition, the people of this country will not tolerate this," Singh said.
The AAP leader said the way the BJP gave "token ministries" to allies, was "a clear indication that the BJP will break its allies and this coalition government will not run beyond one year."
"We have seen one NDA government fall down in 13 days, another in 13 months and now this third government of Narendra Modi will not be able to complete one year.
"We are monitoring the political activities and whenever there is an opportunity for an alternative government, the current government, the dictatorial government, will be removed," Singh told reporters.
He said the AAP has appealed to TDP and other NDA partners that if the BJP does not appoint their leader as Speaker, the INDIA bloc parties "will consider extending support to them."
"This is my personal opinion that if the Speaker belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party then there will be three major losses. First, it will shatter the Constitution.
"Second, we have seen for the first time that 150 MPs were suspended and sent out of the parliament for the first time in history ... The third point is that small parties which have two or three MPs will be broken down. Parties like RLD, JDS, TDP, JDU," he claimed.
"I'm not saying all this without any substance. I am a member of Rajya Sabha and the BJP has broken four TDP members there. This was done when the TDP was not a member of the NDA. The TDP must remember the BJP's history," he added.
Singh alleged that the BJP also indulged in political manipulations to form its government in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra. "This is what they do."
The executive meeting here was attended by all eight Uttar Pradesh units of the party.
"In the coming days, we have to expand the party in Uttar Pradesh and that is what we discussed here today. We will have a conference for party workers in Lucknow on July 14," Singh said.
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AI, IndiGo, SpiceJet seek ATF price relief; say airline industry on verge of 'stopping operations'
Mumbai (PTI): Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet have told the government that the country's airline industry is under extreme stress and on the verge of "stopping operations", as they sought revision in ATF pricing and financial support.
The West Asia turmoil has pushed up oil prices, and airspace restrictions have increased airlines' operating costs, especially on long-haul routes. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) accounts for around 40 per cent of a carrier's operational expenses.
Against this backdrop, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has written to the civil aviation ministry, seeking steps to extend the same fuel pricing mechanism uniformly across both domestic and international operations as was done in the past with the establishment of the crack band.
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With an unprecedented rise in jet fuel prices and exorbitant crack/differential between crude and ATF, the federation said the operation of airlines is being challenged in totality.
"... any ad hoc pricing (domestic vs international) and/or irrational increase in the price of ATF will result in unsurmountable losses for airlines and will lead to grounding of aircraft, resulting in cancellation of flights," the federation, which represents Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, said.
"In order to survive, sustain and continue operation, we request your urgent intervention for immediate and meaningful financial support to tide over the current situation," it said in a letter on April 26.
Also, the airlines have sought temporary deferment of excise duty on ATF, which is at 11 per cent.
"With the abnormal increase in ATF prices from the pre-crisis period, adding rupee depreciation to the increased prices, the 11 per cent excise duty also increases manifold for the airlines and adds to the ATF price as a big impact on airlines," they said.
Last month, the government limited the hike in ATF price to Rs 15 per litre for domestic operations, but for international operations, the price rose by Rs 73 per litre.
The airlines said the situation has practically made international operations, along with domestic operations, completely unviable and resulted in significant losses for the aviation sector in April.
Seeking urgent intervention on the current ATF ad hoc pricing, FIA said the current situation is creating a severe imbalance in domestic and international operations and rendering airline networks unviable and unsustainable.
"The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and is on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations."
The federation has pitched for a transparent pricing framework under the crack band mechanism (USD 12–22/BBL) that was implemented in October 2022, saying there was a fair and reasonable margin for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
According to FIA, the country's largest aviation hub Delhi has the second-highest value-added tax (VAT) of 25 per cent on jet fuel, while the highest rate is 29 per cent levied in Tamil Nadu.
"The other major aviation cities, viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata range between 16 per cent and 20 per cent. These 6 cities cover more than 50 per cent of airlines' operations within India," the federation said.
