A tiger at Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh, and the backwaters in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 16: The “heart of Incredible India” has set its heart on an unlikely object of affection.

BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh wants to set up a luxury resort in communist Kerala.

The state’s finance minister, Ragavji Bhai, visited various tourist resorts in Kerala recently and zeroed in on the 550-acre Beenachi estate in high-range Wynad.

Bhopal had got the property from the Scindias during the inception of the state in 1956.

The Madhya Pradesh government-owned Provident Investment Company — in a joint venture with Trammel Crow Meghraj, the Indian subsidiary of the Britain-based Trammel Crow Company — wants to build the Rs 100-crore resort on a part of the estate.

Tourism is high on Madhya Pradesh’s priority list. Through an advertising blitzkrieg — the tagline “heart of Incredible India” is part of that — the state is vying for a slice of the pie, a lion’s share of which goes to Kerala.

The saffron state’s offer has taken the Red brigade by surprise, and the Left government looks in no mood to humour the Right wing.

Officials in Kerala said they were in the dark about the proposal despite Provident Investment Company placing an ad in a national daily expressing interest in the venture.

Besides, the Kerala government has disputed the status of the property.

Forest department sources pointed out that Kerala had declared the entire estate as vested forest in 2001. The Madhya Pradesh government subsequently challenged it in the high court and obtained a stay.

So, any construction on the disputed property without Kerala High Court’s permission would amount to contempt, forest department sources said.

Provident Investment Company managing director K.D. Menon, an additional development commissioner on deputation from the Madhya Pradesh government, said his counsel in Kerala had told him it was perfectly legal to go ahead with the project as the stay on vesting had restored status quo to ownership of the property.

Around 60 families have encroached on a part of the estate and refused to vacate despite the Madhya Pradesh government obtaining decrees for eviction. “We are working out a mechanism to take the land back without adding to the misery of the encroachers,” Menon said.

The rest of the estate grows coffee.

According to an agency report, Trammel Crow Meghraj has suggested that the holiday resort be built on 35 acres.

The agency quoted Ragavji Bhai as saying the resort was aimed at improving revenue from the estate — from the current Rs 60 lakh to Rs 5 crore a year — through optimum use of the land, which includes setting up a health club and a golf course.

Government sources here said that apart from legal wrangles, the matter involved a question of propriety.

The Madhya Pradesh government should have officially communicated to Kerala its plan for the business venture on Kerala soil, especially as the resort site is ecologically fragile, they said.