Opposition leader Satheesan among invitees for Vizhinjam port commissioning: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 30 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, V D Satheesan, was among the invitees approved by the government in connection with the event for commissioning of the Vizhinjam International Port.

Vijayan said that the opposition leader was among the list of invitees and it was the media which said he was not there.

"The invitations went out to everyone only now after the programme was approved by the Prime Minister's Office as the PM was attending it. I, therefore, do not see any reason for him to avoid participating in the event," the CM said at a press conference here.

Satheesan, earlier in the day, claimed that he was invited to the commissioning of the Vizhinjam International Port only after his exclusion from the event became a controversy.

Speaking to PTI, the Congress leader said that he received a letter from State Ports Minister V N Vasavan after the controversy erupted.

Vijayan also said that the event was supposed to take place much earlier, but was being held amidst the state government's fourth anniversary celebrations because the PM was able to attend it only now.

"That is also not a reason for him (Satheesan) to avoid the event. We are still welcoming him to the programme," he added.

Satheesan claimed, during the day, that a state minister had earlier stated that he was not being invited as the commissioning event was part of the government's 4th anniversary celebrations, which the opposition had decided to boycott.

Rejecting his claims and contentions, Vijayan said that the government only gave a list of people's elected representatives and the addition of unelected political leaders from the BJP to the invitees was done by the Centre.

Regarding Satheesan's allegations that the Left government did nothing in connection with the port project and was now trying to take credit for it, the CM said that credit for the port lies with the entire state and there was no need to argue over it.

"Merely laying a stone for it was not enough. It had to be ensured that ships arrive at the port," he added.

He said the project was not the initiative of the LDF government from 2016-2021 or the UDF government before that, rather it was the realisation of a process that was going on in the state for decades.

"The most important period of that was the last nine years," he claimed.

Vijayan said that the people will decide who deserves credit for the project.

He was responding to Satheesan's remarks that the Vizhinjam project was the outcome of the "willpower" of the UDF government in 2015 and former CM Oommen Chandy.

The opposition leader also contended that neither the road connectivity to the port, which was to be completed by 2017, nor the rail connectivity, which was to be finished by 2019, have been achieved till now.

PM Modi is set to dedicate the transshipment port to the nation on May 2.

The deep-water port has been developed by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India's largest port developer and part of the Adani Group, under a public-private partnership model, at an estimated cost of Rs 8,867 crore.

The port received the commercial commissioning certificate on December 4 last year following the successful completion of its trial run.

It is expected to be fully operational by 2028 after the completion of the second, third, and fourth phases. PTI HMP HMP KH

Source: PTI