Kochi: Now that the BJP is going to be in the saddle at the Centre, the country’s first greenfield private international airport at Aranmula faces huge political barriers as the BJP’s Kerala unit opposes it on the ground that the airport will violate the sanctity of the famous Parthasarathy Temple.
“We are totally against the airport,” BJP State general secretary AN Radhakrishnan told Business Line on Wednesday, the day the Aranmula Airport Protest Committee crossed 100 days of its campaign against the airport being built by the Chennai-based KGS Group at an estimated cost of ?2,000 crore. Radhakrishnan hinted that the party would press the Narendra Modi Government to stop the project in its tracks.
The Aranmula airport, which will come up close to the Parthasarathy Temple and which is located around 100 km equidistant from Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, was a key campaign issue for the BJP in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency. The substantial number of votes BJP candidate MT Ramesh secured in the Aranmula segment of the constituency is believed to be because of the party’s opposition to the airport.
The BJP, pandering to the sentiments of the faithful, had played up the fear that the airport would violate the sanctity of the Parthasarathy Temple, where a large number of pilgrims on the way to Sabarimala stop over to offer prayers.
21/05/14 KPM Basheer/Business Line
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“We are totally against the airport,” BJP State general secretary AN Radhakrishnan told Business Line on Wednesday, the day the Aranmula Airport Protest Committee crossed 100 days of its campaign against the airport being built by the Chennai-based KGS Group at an estimated cost of ?2,000 crore. Radhakrishnan hinted that the party would press the Narendra Modi Government to stop the project in its tracks.
The Aranmula airport, which will come up close to the Parthasarathy Temple and which is located around 100 km equidistant from Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, was a key campaign issue for the BJP in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency. The substantial number of votes BJP candidate MT Ramesh secured in the Aranmula segment of the constituency is believed to be because of the party’s opposition to the airport.
The BJP, pandering to the sentiments of the faithful, had played up the fear that the airport would violate the sanctity of the Parthasarathy Temple, where a large number of pilgrims on the way to Sabarimala stop over to offer prayers.
21/05/14 KPM Basheer/Business Line
