However, the other two apex chambers -- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) chose to keep mum on the issue and refused to comment.

Interestingly, Tata Industries happens to be a member of CII and Ratan Tata a star member of CII's national committee.

Taking a more cautious line of approach, a Ficci spokesperson said: ``We want to see things in the right perspective. Of course we against anything against happening the industry, but in this case, we will give a detailed view on the subject at a later time after studying all aspects.''

Calling it thwarting of liberalisation by pressure tactics by the bureaucracy, trade unions and the competition, Lakshman said Tatas' entryinto such a capital intensive and high profile sector such as aviation would have sent very powerful signals to other sectors of the economy and have had a multiplier effect.

``Now the impact would be just the opposite. This will certainly send negative signals to foreign investors about the investment climate and liberalisation in India and create an impression that the country's liberalisation policy is discriminatory,'' he added.

``I can't think of a better opportunity for the prime minister to directly intervene and persuade the Tatas to go ahead with the proposal and take steps to ensure that the proposal is cleared in 24 hours,'' Lakshman said.