New Delhi: Left economists in various committees of the Planning Commission today (Sep 21, 2004) threatened to resign if the Government did not reconsider the decision to include foreign experts in consultations for the Mid-Term Appraisal (MTA) of the Tenth Plan.

"If the Government does not reconsider the decision (to include foreign experts), we will resign," C P Chandrasekhar, a leading economist and member of one of the consultative groups on MTA, told sources in New Delhi.

The threat comes in the wake of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia asserting that representatives from World Bank and other multilateral agencies will continue in its consultative committees set up for the Tenth Plan's mid-term appraisal.

Accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a trip abroad, Ahluwalia had said in London yesterday (Sep 20, 2004) that he saw nothing wrong in soliciting the foreign experts' views.

"If he (Ahluwalia) is still standing by his statement made yesterday, then there is no other option before us but to resign," Chandrasekhar said.

Apart from Chandrasekhar, other economists including Prabhat Patnaik, Utsa Patnail, T M Thomas Isaac and Jayati Ghosh are believed to have decided to resign on the issue.

They are believed to have met CPM (Communist Party Marxist) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechuri.