Kochi (Kerala), May 03 (ANI): A day after Vizhinjam Seaport was inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram by PM Modi, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called it very good example of collaboration, bridging divide between political parties.
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00:00The alliance is a very important pillar, here are certainly still standing, and today's event will harm many people's lives.
00:30Yes, yesterday the Prime Minister had come to Tiruvannathapuram, and we had actually seen the official commissioning of the port.
00:39The port has been a dream of the people of Vilnyam and of Tiruvannathapuram, my constituency, and of Kerala for a very, very long time.
00:47It was first mentioned by the then ports minister in the Legislative Assembly in 1992, and then once again became an active idea in 2005-06.
00:56Thereafter, there had been various setbacks, tenders that were not successful, and so on, until finally, under the leadership of Chief Minister Oumanchandi,
01:04we were able to get a successful tender floated.
01:07I was able to persuade Mr. Adani at that time, whom I did not know, but we met, and I gave him the arguments for Vilnyam port to actually bid.
01:15He became a successful bidder, Mr. Oumanchandi, and his government led a very successful negotiation, signed the concession agreement,
01:22got a relief package for the affected fishermen whose livelihoods would have been damaged by the construction of a port in that area.
01:30All of that was done, and it was only after that that the Congress government, the UPA government, UDF government lost its seats in this.
01:39So there began the process. It was continued very ably by the Chief Minister currently in office, Mr. Panarai Vijayan, who is the left front Chief Minister.
01:49And I'm very proud to say that Mr. Oumanchandi had appointed me to the director board of the Vilnyam seaport, but Mr. Panarai Vijayan asked me to continue.
01:59And that was a good example of how parties can cooperate across the political divide in order to get the results of development.
02:07So a project initiated by a Congress government, continued by a communist left-run government, and then commissioned by a BJP government in the center,
02:17that is a very good example of how we can focus on development, on the benefit of the nation, ahead of whatever political issues may divide us.