A view of the Vizhinjam International Sea Port that will be inaugurated on May 2.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: The ruling BJP at the centre also seems to be joining the claim staking game over the Vizhinjam international seaport, the first deep-water container transshipment port of the country that will be formally commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (May 2).
While the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress in Kerala have been already involved in staking claims for making the long pending dream project of the state a reality, advertisement issued by the Ministry of Ports on the commissioning of the Vizhinjam port highlighted the Prime Minister's Viksit Bharat 2047 vision with his picture.
The advertisement made no mention about Kerala government's contributions for the project.
Moreover, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been also included among those participating in the inaugural function, that too at a time when the opposition Congress in Kerala was alleging that opposition leader V D Satheesan was being sidelined.
Kerala ports minister V N Vasavan justified that Chandrasekhar was being included as per a directive from the PMO.
The Congress has been staking claim over the project as the Congress government led by Oommen Chandy initiated the tendering for the long pending project and inked the deal with Adani Ports for construction and operation of the port in 2015.
The CPI(M) is claiming that the Pinarayi Vijayan government that came to power in 2016 ensured the completion of the project overcoming the strong protest by the coastal community.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the left-front government made a supplementary agreement with the Adani Ports and there by ensured better profits to the state government from the project. "Laying the foundation stone alone wouldn't make the project a reality. The last nine years of the CPM government was crucial period for the port's construction, overcoming many hurdles," he said.
The Congress flays that the CPI(M) even tried to sabotage the project by alleging Rs. 6,000 crore corruption in the agreement signed by the Congress government.
Vijayan countered it by stating that the priority of the CPI(M) government was to make the project materialise and hence it went ahead with it.