In. a major embarrassment to BJP led centre Modi government
the Kerala Assembly passed a unanimous resolution on Monday, demanding the withdrawal of the Union Cabinet’s decision to lease out the international airport at Thiruvanthapuram to Adani Enterprises Ltd.
Chief Minister Pinarayai Vijayan moved the resolution and said the Centre should re-examine its decision and that the operation and management of the airport should be handed over to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in which the State Government has stake.
He added that since the state government had agreed to match Adani’s bid, the Centre’s decision to privatise the airport cannot be justified.
“The Kerala Assembly’s passage of a resolution opposing the development of Trivandrum International Airport through PPP proves that the Kerala CM and Congress are far removed from the people.
The mood of the people is for development & growth,” said V Muraleedharan, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs.
Meanwhile Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said on Twitter, “Our business model is CIAL (Cochin International Airport Ltd) in which the Government is the major stakeholder, with the right to appoint Chair and MD… This is our version of PPP.”
During the all-party meeting on August 20 it had been decided to move a resolution against the Centre’s decision and to demand its withdrawal.
Kerala Chief Minister had written to the Prime Minister earlier urging withdrawal of the Centre’s decision.
The Centre had decided to lease out airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram using the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Adani Enterprises had won the rights to run six airports–Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati through the PPP model after a competitive bidding process in February 2019.
