Taking the turf war with the Union government over the privatisation of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to next level, the Kerala assembly today passed a “unanimous resolution” demanding the withdrawal of the decision to lease out the airport to Adani Enterprises Ltd.
The all-party meeting called by the chief minister on August 20 had decided to move a resolution against the Centre’s decision, and to demand its withdrawal.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved the resolution today stating that the Centre should re-examine its decision and the operation and management of the airport should be handed over to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in which the state government has a stake. Despite the state government agreeing to give the amount quoted by Adani Enterprises, the Centre’s decision to privatise the airport cannot be justified, he said. He also pointed out to the prime minister that a petition against the move was pending in the Kerala High Court.
The CM had written twice to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi making it clear that the state will not cooperate with the move.
Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala also supported the resolution against privatisation of the airport. “Keeping in mind the state’s interests, the Opposition is supporting the motion and we agree with the spirit of the resolution.”
He, however, blamed that the state government for having “double standards” on the issue. While the government attacked the Adani group in public, it secretly helped them by consulting a law firm close to it, he said, and alleged that there was a “criminal conspiracy''.
After the brief discussion, speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan declared that the “resolution has been passed unanimously”. The BJP, however, alleged the resolution was not “unanimous” as their lone representative in the house, O. Rajagopal, was “not allowed to speak”.
“But, we are with the people of the state in the airport matter,” BJP state chief K. Surendran told the media.
