Shashi Tharoor backs Centre’s decision to award operations of Thiruvananthapuram airport to private player through PPP

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], August 20 (ANI): Even as the Congress leadership in the state and Left parties have opposed Centre’s decision to award operations of Thiruvananthapuram airport to a private player, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has backed the move.
Tharoor, who is MP from Thiruvananthapuram, said in a tweet that he would have explained his views if his colleagues had they consulted him and that he was speaking in the best interests of his constituency.
“Had my colleagues consulted me before taking a negative stand, I would have explained my views to them. I am speaking in the best interests of my constituency. As its MP, that is my job,” Tharoor said.
He also said that his position on the airport has been consistent.
“I am not a politician who says one thing to the voters and something else afterwards for political convenience. This video was done last year, ” he said sharing a video of an interview he gave earlier in which he was explaining the need for a PPP model for the airport for the overall development of the state capital.
The union cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to lease out Thiruvananthapuram and two other airports through Public Private Partnership (PPP) for “operation, management and development” to Adani Enterprises Ltd, who was declared as the successful bidder in global competitive bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India, for a period of fifty years.
Senior state Congress leaders including KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran and leader of opposition in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithals have strongly opposed the decision.
Chennithala said the Union Government’s decision to award operations of Trivandrum Airport to a private group on a 50-year-lease amidst the COVID crisis “is a deplorable move”.
“The airport is the state’s property, and must not be privatised. The decision to go for PPP mode despite state government’s readiness to operate and manage the airport shows how central government is trying to use the COVID-19 pandemic to hand over all PSUs to the private sector. This dictatorial act cannot be allowed and must be resisted,” he said. (ANI)