The Hindu : National : Karat assails Jaitley's charges

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Karat assails Jaitley's charges

Special Correspondent

Says the BJP leader is concocting facts on Vizhinjam project

NEW DELHI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Arun Jaitley was making baseless charges on the controversy over denial of security clearance for the Deepwater International Container Trans-shipment Terminal at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram district.

In a statement, Mr. Karat pointed out that all parties in Kerala, including the BJP, had opposed the cancellation of a contract to a consortium of Indian and Chinese companies on grounds of security.

"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','' he said.

The Vizhinjam Port was an important project for Kerala and the contract was awarded before the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front assumed office in the State.

"Another fiction"

On the BJP charge that Chinese labour would be brought in for the Vizhinjam project, he said: "This is another fiction created by Mr. Jaitley. 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. But that is no reason why Chinese companies should be kept out of infrastructure projects such as the Vizhinjam Port.''

Earlier this week, Mr. Jaitley said the CPI (M) and the CPI were publicly pleading with the Government on behalf of Chinese companies.

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