Pinarayi Vijayan rejects Satheesan’s Vizhinjam connectivity claim, accuses UDF of taking credit for LDF’s efforts

Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan has hit back at Chief Minister V D Satheesan, calling his claim that the previous LDF government delayed road and rail connectivity to Vizhinjam Seaport factually incorrect. Vijayan also accused the UDF government of engaging in a political exercise to take credit for the port's development.

Vijayan also alleged that Satheesan was attempting to mislead the public by concealing facts. “One hundred per cent of the work on Vizhinjam port, which has now commenced commercial operations, was carried out during the tenure of the LDF government. Moreover, is it factually correct to claim that the UDF government accomplished something significant within just two and a half months of assuming office?” he asked.

Satheesan had earlier said that the economic benefits from the export-import (EXIM) operations that began at Vizhinjam would have been 100 times higher had road and rail connectivity to the port been ensured. “During the last 10 years, the LDF government did not even move at the pace of a tortoise to ensure that,” Satheesan had said.

Responding to the allegation, Vijayan said the UDF had extended its full support to protests against the construction of the Vizhinjam port in 2022. He said Satheesan, who was then the Leader of the Opposition, had visited the protest site and publicly declared that the port construction would not be allowed. Vijayan also referred to the then KPCC president’s remarks that the anti-port agitation at Vizhinjam could become a repeat of the old Liberation Struggle.

“It was the LDF government that took a firm stand that the construction of Vizhinjam port, Kerala’s dream project, would not be halted in the face of such pressures. It is extremely ironic that those who protested against the project are now trying to take political advantage by claiming credit for road connectivity,” Vijayan said.

He said the LDF government had expedited various stages of the connectivity road project linking the port with National Highway 66, including project planning, land acquisition, legal procedures and government approvals. "The 4(1) notification for land acquisition for the NH-66–Vizhinjam Fort Road Junction was issued in April 2022, while the 19(1) notification for the road connectivity project was issued in February 2024. The government allocated ₹11 crore for land acquisition in the 2024-25 financial year and provided funds to VISL," Vijayan stated.

By January 2024, when final approval for the road connectivity was granted, the LDF government had already acquired 35.81 cents of the 42 cents required, Vijayan said. He alleged that the delay in acquiring the remaining land and granting approvals was due to the National Highways Authority of India. The Centre also delayed approval for the permanent cloverleaf interchange and approach road, he said, adding that Shashi Tharoor MP had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha.

“The precise interventions made by the LDF government at every stage of the Vizhinjam project are documented. The people of Kerala are also well aware of these facts. Such cheap allegations, made to conceal the UDF’s earlier positions and to take credit for a project completed by the LDF government, will be rejected by the people of Kerala with the contempt they deserve,” Vijayan said.

Vijayan also welcomed the public and media fact-checking statements made by the Chief Minister at his press conferences. He said visuals showing various interventions allegedly made by Satheesan, when he was the Leader of the Opposition, to obstruct the Vizhinjam project had already emerged as part of such fact-checking.