NEW DELHI: The Government on Friday rejected the Left charge of a "sell-out" in the modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports. It also denied it was planning to privatise the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Replying to a short-duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the situation arising out of the procedure followed by the Government for restructuring of the Delhi and Mumbai airports, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the public sector AAI would invest more equitably in the simultaneous development of non-metro airports as modern airports were needed for all round growth.

Dissatisfied with the Minister's reply, CPI (M) members staged a walkout.

The Minister's reply saw interruptions by the Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav and CPI (M) members who raised queries and sought clarifications.

Admitting that the AAI had an important role to play in building the infrastructure, Mr. Patel said he was not at all questioning its capability to build modern airports. It would have a much bigger role to play, considering the growth in the sector.

Refuting the Left charge that the Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had gone beyond its terms of reference in deciding upon the eligibility criteria of bidders for the Delhi and Mumbai airports, Mr. Patel said it represented the "collective responsibility" of the Cabinet.

The Government had drawn up plans to redistribute air traffic and a modern airport was not merely a terminal but a "transit point and hub" as well. Citing the examples of Dubai and Singapore airports, Mr. Patel said about 60 per cent of their traffic was of transit passengers.

Earlier, CPI (M) members alleged a scam in the way the two airports were being privatised. Dipankar Mukherjee (CPI-M) questioned the EGoM's authority to change the eligibility criteria for the bidders mid-way. Its mandate was only to finalise the successful bidders.

He said AAI was better equipped for modernisation financially too. "While the winners of the contract have reserves of around Rs. 65 crore, AAI has total reserves of Rs. 3,000 crore. This would have enabled to raise loans of more than Rs. 9,000 crore for the task," he said.

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