Congress dares Kerala government to scrap Vizhinjam project

The Congress party on Tuesday accused the Pinarayi Vijayan government of attempting to create a "smokescreen" of corruption in the Vizhinjam port project and dared the ruling LDF to scrap the deal and ink a new pact if it indeed was corrupt.

Kerala Congress chief M.M. Hassan said that Vijayan's assertion that the project would not be scrapped but the probe will be on exposed his "double standards".

"There is a clear clause in the agreement that the state government can at any point of time cancel the agreement without any loss. But what Vijayan is trying to do is while taking credit for the project is he wants to create a smokescreen of corruption in the deal for political needs. This is not acceptable," Hassan told reporters after a meeting of the Congress high power committee here.

He said former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the Congress party "whole-heartedly welcome the probe but this double standards by Vijayan will not be accepted".

"So, he (Vijayan) can go ahead and cancel the deal," he added.

Hassan also pointed out the replies given by the Vijayan government to the CAG clearly show that the agreement was a "clean one".

"The CAG report is not factual and Chandy himself has filed a complaint before the CAG citing all the discrepancies," he said.

The Chief Minister, however, brushed aside the points raised by the Congress in its meeting.

"Let the probe go ahead," Vijayan told reporters in Kozhikode.

The previous Oommen Chandy-led UDF government had inked the agreement with Adani Ports in 2015 for the Rs 7,525-crore Vizhinjam project.

Adani Ports, which was the lone bidder, sought Rs 1,635 crore as grant for it. It had committed that the first phase of the port would be operational in 1,000 days from the date of commencement of work, which began in 2015.

The Kerala cabinet announced a judicial probe into the Vizhinjam port agreement earlier this year after the CAG report, placed in the state assembly, came out with certain anomalies.

Meanwhile, the CAG has reportedly called up the officials who took part in the Vizhinjam audit and finalisation of the report.

--IANS

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