Mumbai: Taking a different line from ally Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided not to oppose the amendment to the Trai Act to appoint former Trai chairman Nripendra Misra as principal secretary to the Prime Minister.
“We will not oppose the amendment as such decisions have been taken in the past too,” Mr Sharad Pawar said.
The NDA government had on Friday tabled the Trai amendment bill in the Lok Sabha, which will pave the way for Mr Misra to be appointed in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Congress has strongly opposed the move to amend the Trai Act to appoint former Trai chairman Nripendra Misra as principal secretary to the Prime Minister and, as an alliance partner, it was expected of the NCP to support the Congress, but Mr Sharad Pawar decided not to the toe the line of the "big brother".
He even cited the example of T.K.A. Nair, an IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, who was appointed as principal secretary to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even when he had retired from service, and said, "It is not as if a person has left government service and joined any private sector. He is returning to government service again."
The Trai Act prohibits its chairman and members from taking up other jobs in government service after demitting office.
The NCP chief also supported the decision of the Modi government to declare 49 per cent foreign direct investment in the defence sector. He, however, said it should be done with extreme caution.
"The decision was taken to revive the economy. But there are certain sensitive items in the defence sector and the government has to be cautious before taking any decision on investment," Mr Pawar said.
