THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Tuesday that it was the Left that first “invited” the Ahmedabad-based Adani group for the Vizhinjam seaport project, he left out some significant points; that it was the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre that denied clearance to the Adani-run Mundra Ports and SEZ in 2012. And that it was the UDF which was in power in the state at the time. That had left Kerala with just one bidder - the Welspun consortium, and subsequently, the entire process had to be scrapped. Ironically, it is now a Congress-led government that is batting for the same Adani in the state. In fact, in 2012, the Union Home Ministry in its brief letter to the State Government denying clearance to Mundra Ports, had not even cited a reason. That was the third occasion when Kerala had invited global tenders for this project. While it is true that the tender process had been kicked off by the previous LDF Government, the shortlisting of companies and subsequent decisions were taken by the UDF which came to power in May 2011.
Chandy had made the statement while inaugurating the zonal rally of the UDF in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday evening. He was reacting to the Left objections to handing over the project to the Adani Ports.
‘’What the Chief Minister is saying is baseless,’’ said M Vijayakumar, who was Ports Minister during the LDF tenure.
‘’We had started the tendering process and 14 companies had shown interest. Twelve qualified and Mundra Ports was one of them. But it was the Congress Government at the Centre that denied clearance to Mundra which left us with just onebidder - the consortium led by Welspun. By then the UDF Government was in power here,’’ Vijayakumar said. Mundra Ports and SEZ was in a direct fight with the consortium of Welspun Infratech, Welspun Corporation and Leighton-Welspun Contractors, but the Home Ministry denied clearance to Mundra and Welspun alone was left in the fray. Although in 2012 the government had held negotiations with Welspun, the discussions had fallen flat, forcing the State Government to float fresh tenders. Now, the Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala has all but cleared Adani Ports, pending the decision of an all-party meeting on June 3.