Stop fighting over port project, Kerala parties told.

Union Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari recently asked political parties in Kerala to stop fighting over the international port project at Vizhinjam, warning that failing to do so will result in the project being shifted to Tamil Nadu.

'If the differences over the port project in Kerala are not resolved in time, we will shift the international port project to Colachel near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu,' Mr. Gadkari said in Mumbai.

He was addressing a press conference to mark the completion of one year of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. The port project, estimated to cost around Rs. 7,000 crore, has been caught in a controversy as the Adani Group is the only bidder for it. While the Kerala Cabinet will take a final call on whether to go ahead with the project or not, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said that the port should be developed by the public sector. 'We have nothing to say if the people of Kerala do not want development in their State. The project can be taken to Kanyakumari because of politics. You cannot blame me after that,' Mr. Gadkari said. Claiming that the Adani Group had no close relations with the BJP-led government at the Centre, Mr. Gadkari said it was the Kerala government which had approached the Adani Group to build the port.

THE HINDU