Karat takes on Jaitley over Vizhinjam project cancellation

New Delhi, Oct 6 (UNI) CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat has deplored BJP leader Arun Jaitley's comment that the Left party was doing a ''PR job for a Chinese company'' in the Vizhinjam port project in Kerala.

Mr Jaitley had also alleged that Chinese labour had to be brought in for the project awarded earlier to a consortium of Indian and Chinese companies, which is now cancelled on security grounds.

Terming the allegation as ''fiction'', Mr Karat said it was ''unfortunate'' that the BJP leader is making a ''baseless'' allegation.

According to the CPI (M) chief, all political parties in Kerala, including the BJP and the opposition Congress, had opposed the cancellation of the contract.

''Probably, Mr Jaitley, given the BJP's ideological predilections for the United States and Israel, sees foreign investment from other countries through saffron-tinted glasses,'' he said.

''But that is no reason why Chinese companies should be kept out of infrastructure projects such as Vizhinjam Port,'' Mr Karat added in a statement this morning.

The consortium, he said, had won the bid in a global tender and it was an important project for Kerala. Moreover, the contract was awarded before the Left Democratic Front had come to office, he said.

''It is deplorable that the BJP leader, Mr Arun Jaitley, makes charges that are not only untrue but also presents concocted facts,'' Mr Karat said.

He said Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan had led an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting him that the contract be given the go-ahead.

''Mr Jaitley should find out from the Kerala BJP unit the actual facts before hurling the charge that the CPI (M) is doing a 'PR job for a Chinese company'',' Mr Karat said.

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