Amid criticism over engaging experts from multilateral agencies like World Bank and Asian Development Bank, Planning Commission on Wednesday asserted that none of the "outside bodies" had anything to do with its working and the experts were being used only for consultation.
A day ahead of the meeting of the full Planning Commission, its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters, "there is no representation of outside bodies in the actual working of the Planning Commission."
He clarified that inclusion of representatives of multilateral bodies was only to provide inputs for the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan.
Ahluwalia's comment comes within hours of the Left parties asking the government to "reconsider" inclusion of representatives from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the US-based consultancy firm McKinsey.
Earlier, in a statement, Left leaders A B Bardhan (CPI), Prakash Karat (CPI-M), Abani Roy (RSP) and Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc), had said the inclusion of representatives of international agencies and foreign private companies, "who have their own agendas and are in no way accountable to the Indian people, is an unwarranted step".