CM Oommen Chandy-VS Achuthanandan slugfest over Vizhinjam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The war of words between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition Leader V. S. Achuthanandan hotted up over Vizhinjam port project, on the eve of the Aruvikkara byelection, on Friday.

Mr Chandy flayed Achuthanandan for trying to mislead people through phony remarks such as “the government would get just 1 per cent income for 60 years” from the Vizhinjam project.

In a statement here, the chief minister asked Achuthanandan to reveal from where he got the 60-year period. As per the present agreement, the government would get income from the commercial area from seventh year and other areas from 15th year of operations. The income will increase by 1 per cent every year and would go up to 40 per cent, he said.

Mr Chandy said the land would be licensed to Adani group for a period of 40 years, and the title of ownership will remain with the government.  He said the present tender had been finalised after a transparent and a competitive global bid.

The chief minister said the attempt to derail the project by raising false and baseless allegations would not work.

Retorting to the charges, Mr Achuthanandan said the chief minister’s outburst was nothing but a stunt just hours before the polling for Aruvikkara Assermbly seat was to take place.

Reacting to the charge that he was speaking against Vizhinjam sea port as if he had taken favours to derail the project, “I have written three articles, issued several statements during the past three weeks on the chief minister's sellout of Vizhinjam project to Narendra Modi's close lieutenant, Gautam Adani. But Chandy didn’t utter a word against me. It is interesting to see him reacting on the eve of the polling in Aruvikkara. The people will see through such tactics,” the opposition leader added.

The veteran leader said he had exposed the clandestine meeting with Adani at the residence of K. V. Thomas MP. There are allegations that commission worth crores had been paid in connection with the deal. While the chief minister maintains that the meeting with Adani was official, despite asking several times, he had failed to provide the minutes of the meet, he added.

The Opposition leader said the need of the hour was to have  the state's dream project under the government’s control. “I will continue opposing the complete sellout to Adani. Chandy's allegations against me will be rejected with the same contempt and manner in which his clean chit to finance minister. He had termed Mani a saint,” he added.