NAGERCOIL
Even as Union Minister of State for Shipping and BJP candidate for Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency Pon. Radhakrishnan has vowed to establish Kanniyakumari International Container Transhipment Terminal and launched a special purpose vehicle for implementing the project, Congress candidate for the constituency H. Vasanthakumar is determined to stall it at any cost.
“The district doesn’t need an international container transhipment terminal… All it needs is an integrated fishing harbour to take the fishing industry to greater heights. I’ll stop the wasteful move to dump ₹ 28,000 crore in the sea on the pretext of creating a seaport,” Mr. Vasanthakumar told reporters after filing his nomination with Collector and District Election Officer Prashant M. Wadnere on Monday.
Mr. Vasanthakumar said the district did not witness any visible growth over the past five years when Mr. Radhakrishnan was representing the Lok Sabha constituency as a Minister.
“Mr. Radhakrishnan is claiming that the constituency has received development works worth ₹ 40,000 crore over the past five years. Let him list the development projects he has executed. In a bid to win the votes of Hindus, he promised in 2014 that he would get scholarships for poor Hindu students, but it has turned to be an empty promise. Can he prove that the BJP government had provided employment to two crore youth every year as promised?,” he asked.
When asked about Mr. Radhakrishnan’s allegation that Mr. Vasanthakumar, sitting MLA of Nanguneri, had betrayed the people of the constituency by entering electoral fray in Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency, he said: “I purchased with my personal money an earthmover worth ₹ 29 lakh for removing thorny bushes from waterbodies in Nanguneri segment and desilted irrigation tanks. I’m bearing all incurring expenditure. Fogging machines to eradicate mosquito menace have been purchased with my personal funds and are being used in villages. I’ve not let down Nanguneri voters.”
Mr. Vasanthakumar has declared that he and his wife own movable and immovable assets worth ₹ 417.49 crore. The value of the couple’s assets was ₹ 337 crore in 2016 as per the affidavit he filed in the Assembly election.
His liabilities amounted to ₹ 154.75 crore, which stood at ₹ 121.99 crore in 2016.
