Kerala bid was 20% below Adani's for Thiruvananthapuram airport: Puri

Aviation Minister also questions the state government's stance or opposition to privatisation

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep S Puri on Friday hit back at the Kerala governm­ent for objecting to the Centre’s decision to privatise Thiruva­nan­thapuram airport. He said Kerala’s bid was 20 per cent lower than Adani Enterprises, which won the bid for three airports including Thiruva­nanth­apuram airport.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Thursday written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his objection to the Centre’s “unilateral” decision on the issue. The state government has said that its proposal to match the offer made by the highest bidder — the Adani group — for the Thir­u­vananthapuram airport was not allowed, and therefore the people would oppose the move.

Responding to Vijayan, Puri said: “If Kerala Government is against privatisation, then why did it participate in the bidding process? State government was given a fair chance and Right of First Refusal (RoFR) if their bid was within 10 per cent below the range of highest bid. However, they bid 19.64 per cent below.”

He said, the state approached the Kerala High Court, which dismissed the petition in December 2019. Petitioners then filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The apex court sent the matter back to the Kerala HC.

“There is no stay in the case either by the Supreme Court or the Kerala High Court,” said the Minister. He added that if the petitioners succeeded and the outcome leads to cancellation of bidding process, “then the Concessionaire will hand over the possession of the airport to AAI. They will be entitled to a refund of the amount paid to AAI and additional investments made in the assets”.

Meanwhile, the state government on Friday moved the high court seeking a stay on further proceedings in leasing out the airport to Adani Enterprises.

Unless the stay is granted, it will be put to irreparable injury and hardship, the state government said in its application, filed a day after an all-party meeting in Kerala demanded withdrawal of the Union Cabinet’s decision.

The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala said it would send 200,000 emails to Modi, opposing the move. “Party workers and representatives at various levels will send emails to Modi to express the state’s sentiments on the matter,” CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said.

The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) condemned the privatisation and asked the government to withdraw the move. “AITUC condemns the central government’s fetish for privatisation and sale of all their assets to their cronies and warns that this step is against the interests of the ordinary commuters, and urges the Central Government to withdraw its latest proposal,” it said in a statement.