Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor of the Congress appeared to have earned the ire of his own party and that of the ruling front for having posted a Twitter message that seemed to support the Central government’s decision to lease out the operations of the Thiruvananthapuram airport to Adani Enterprises Ltd. of the Adani Group.
Mr Tharoor had tweeted: “The reality is that a private entity running the operations competitively is the only way this airport (Thiruvananthapuram airport) could flourish. Whoever it is, the ownership of land and airport as well as the responsibilities of ATC, Security, Customs & Immigration still remain with the Govt agencies”.
However, his statement appeared to be in variance with the stated position of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and more by the stance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
His tweet immediately invited bipartisan criticism from the Congress leadership and the State secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran seemed to refer obliquely to the tweet by stating that “no Congress worker should be on the payroll of Adani or any corporate”.
K. Muraleedharan, MP, of the Congress, said Kerala would not turn into heaven if Adani owned the airport as some had suggested. Private ownership of the airport would mean an increased inflow of contraband gold.
The CPI(M) slammed Mr. Tharoor for supporting the take over by Adani. It said Mr. Tharoor had acted against the interest of his constituency. The MP’s opinion echoed that of the BJP and not that of the KPCC.
District secretary of the BJP V.V. Rajesh appeared to tow Mr Tharoor’s line that only privatisation would make airport operations economically viable.
The CPI(M) was traditionally against the development of Thiruvananthapuram and overwhelmingly in favour of modernising Kochi and Kannur airports. The Centre had handed over the operations of the airport to Adani via open tender. It had invited the State government to participate in the bid.
A modern airport in Thiruvananthapuram would serve citizens from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu to Pathanamthitta in central Kerala. It would catalyse economic activity in the State, he said.
