Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said that he has not seen the so-called ‘Modi wave' in any part of Kerala.
Addressing a meet-the-press programme at the Pathanamthitta Press Club on Sunday, Mr. Antony said a section of big corporate companies were active because of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's influence. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Sangh Parivar were openly spearheading the election campaign of the BJP.
Mr. Antony said the popular sentiment was with the Congress and the UPA. The Kerala-model of development was a role model for the rest of the country. He alleged that the ‘Gujarat model' was an ‘inflated' model and many a rural belt in Gujarat were in the grip of poverty.
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Kerala owed much to the United Democratic Front (UDF) government led by Oommen Chandy for the immense development taking place across the State.
Aranmula airport He said his ministry had not given any clearance for the proposed private airport project at Aranmula apart from giving a strictly conditional no-objection certificate (NOC) to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the project.
The Defence Ministry had given the NOC subject to seven conditions put forward by the Indian Navy.
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He made it clear that there was no question of compromising the national security, how big the applicant may be. If any of the seven conditions were violated, the NOC would remain cancelled.
However, Mr. Antony cautiously restrained himself from making any comment on the ongoing public agitation against the airport project or the alleged violation of as many as 12 laws of the land in the name of the project.