THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the government scrambles to wriggle out of the ‘Methran Kayal’ and ‘Kadamakudy’ quagmire by withdrawing the permission granted for the tourism and medicity projects respectively, on the face of mounting adverse public opinion and media blitzkrieg, the extensive political damage inflicted upon the ruling UDF is bound to be unfathomable.
Rubbing more salt to the UDF wounds are reports pouring many acres of government land were ‘gifted on a silver platter’ to vested groups in the instance of Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash in the past few days in his constituency and elsewhere. The timing of the decision makes it even the more incomprehensible. No sensible government would have normally opted for such controversial decisions in the run-up to a decisive election.
Though Chief Minister Oommen Chandy insists that it was the former LDF Government which gave the green signal to the Kumarakom Tourist Resort project in Methran Kayal, the haste with which the UDF Government pursued the project has evidently set the rumour mill rolling. Even when the GO issued last week underscores stringent compliance to existing laws while proceeding with the project, public doubts are bound to get magnified.
Sudheeran Welcomes Decision
The decision to withdraw the permission for ‘Methran Kaayal’ and ‘Kadammakudi’ projects is a welcome move. The government should abstain from taking controversial decisions when elections are in the offing, said the KPCC Chief.
People’s Victory, Says Kummanam
T’Puram: The government had no other way out but to withdraw the controversial order on Methrankayal, BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan said on Wednesday. “It is the victory of the people. The government had no other way out,” he said in a statement. He said the protest of the LDF on the issue was fake as it was the previous LDF government that introduced the project. “The LDF should stop its practice of running with the hare and hunting with the hound. LDF had adopted the same approach In the Aranmula airport issue,” he said.
Chandy’s Retort
Invoking Investment
“The government had acted only in a transparent manner in the issue. Don’t we need investment in the state? The decision was withdrawn to avoid a controversy.”
Political Faux Pas?
“It is not a political faux pas. The local people in ‘Kadammakudi’ are up in arms against withdrawing the Medicity project. The people there want to get rid of the swarming anti-socials, who have made the place their haven. They foresee the project as futuristic’’
Passing the Buck
In the Methran Kayal tourism project,the scope of a good investment notwithstanding,the government had made it clear that it could be taken forward only if the environment and wetland are protected in accordance with existing laws. The project didn’t take off during LDF government’s tenure on account of dissent raised at the instance of a Left front partner. I don’t want to divulge the reasons’’