THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has decided to approach the Kerala High Court against the Centre’s decision to hand over the Thiruvananthapuram airport to Adani Enterprises on a 5-decade lease. Shashi Tharoor, MP, is unfazed by the controversy over his stand, and says he feels that “the airport is a means to an end”.
However, he is peeved that the KPCC leadership had not consulted him before they expressed their displeasure at the privatisation move. In an email interview to TNIE, Tharoor speaks on the two issues he has been currently embroiled in, including the Facebook summons row.
You have come under flak from the KPCC leadership over your stand in favour of privatisation of Trivandrum International Airport. Are you not on a sticky wicket by antagonising the KPCC leadership on the issue?
My stand on this has always been firm since 2018. The BJP announced the tender, not Congress, and the state government chose to participate in the bidding, under rules they agreed to. After losing in the bid process, they started questioning the very game they had chosen to play. Second, whoever the winning private party is, the ownership of land and airport, as well as the responsibilities of ATC, security, Customs and immigration still remain with the government agencies. No one is “giving away” the airport, it is an operating contract, that’s all.
Though the LDF and UDF do not see eye to eye on various issues, they have joined hands to oppose the Centre’s move to privatise the airport. Don’t you think the LDF and BJP would take your stand as a political weapon against you in the imminent local body and Assembly elections?
I have been explaining since 2019 election campaign that it is not the private operator which is an issue for me, but developing Thiruvananthapuram as a world-class airport that will attract more airlines and serve more passengers. When more companies move to Thiruvananthapuram, they generate jobs for our people, as well as bring in more employees who will rent your homes, make purchases in your shops, eat in your restaurants and hire your taxis. This is how a city grows and develops. The airport is a means to an end. The end is about what will make Thiruvananthapuram develop and flourish. If a private operator, motivated by profit, creates a better airport that more airlines will use, Thiruvananthapuram will benefit.
Do you think that you should have spoken to the KPCC leadership on the airport issue as this is not the first time you have ruffled their feathers?
Don’t you think that as the local MP, I might have expected to be consulted before seeing the party’s views in the media? I was not consulted before the KPCC expressed its views, and I had expressed my opinion a long time ago, which I have merely repeated. I have made it clear I am only expressing the opinion of the MP of Thiruvananthapuram on what is good for Thiruvananthapuram, not speaking for the party.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore had demanded your removal as the chief of Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT for allegedly flouting rules over Facebook summons row and you have been accused of going public with the issue instead of discussing it within the panel. What is your take on this?
Parliamentary rules prevent me, as chairman, from discussing such matters in the media. I only wish the press would make the basic effort to see what the rules say rather than uncritically reporting distorted accounts of my actions. The relevant agenda item was agreed by the entire committee unanimously at the start of the year, approved by the Speaker and bulletinised by Parliament. It is the same item under which my predecessor, Anurag Thakur of the BJP, summoned Twitter!