By Liz Mathew
IANS
New Delhi : Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has asserted there were no "mediators" between the state government and the Dubai Internet City (DIC) in a controversial project to establish an Internet city in Kochi.
"There were no mediators," Achuthanandan told IANS in an interview here.
The assertion refutes claims that Malayalam superstar Mammotty, a close associate of the chief minister's bete-noire Pinarayi Vijayan and the chairman of party-run Kairali channel, had mediated between the Kerala government and DIC for removing the stumbling blocks to make the deal a reality.
"It was the government and its representatives who held discussions with the company. Those who went for discussions had consulted me before every step and the negotiations were based on my directions," said the chief minister, who has recently been suspended from his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)'s politburo.
The party politburo has last week suspended Achuthanandan and CPI-M Kerala secretary Vijayan for their public slugfest despite repeated requests to refrain from doing so.
State CPI-M leaders in the Vijayan camp had claimed that the Rs.15 billion project would not have happened if Mammooty had not ironed out the differences between the state and the IT company. The film star had said he had held discussions with DIC officials when he was in Dubai earlier this year.
Reports also had said that Dubai-based businessman M.A. Yusuf Ali too had mediated to remove the stumbling blocks for the IT project.
The Smart City project, which was vehemently opposed by Achuthanandan when it was initiated by the former Oommen Chandy government, was finalised earlier this month after DIC claimed to have agreed to the conditions set by Kerala's Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
The chief minister said under the present agreement, the company would be given 236 acres in Kochi on a 99-year lease for Rs.1.04 billion.
"Instead of the 33,000 jobs the company had promised to Oommen Chandy, it would provide 90,000 in a time-bound manner.
"While the former government was assured of only nine percent stake in the project, we got them to agree to a 26 percent stake in five years," Achuthanandan explained.
The chief minister was in the national capital to attend the National Development Council meeting held Tuesday.