The ruling BJP in Assam has latched onto the support of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for the Centre’s move to hand over operations of the Thirvananthapuram international airport in Kerala to a private player to attack the Opposition party.

The Ahmedabad-based Adani group had last year won the rights to operate the airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati and Mangalore, which are now run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The Union cabinet on August 19 approved the proposal to lease out the airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram to Adani Enterprises under the public-private partnership model for 50 years, a move which has been opposed by the Congress.

Assam BJP chief spokesperson Rupam Goswami said in a statement that the Congress protest against the handover of airports to a private player has “only exposed its hypocrisy”. Goswami invoked the support of Tharoor, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, to the Centre’s move to drive home his point.

Tharoor has said the move would help in “expanding” the potential of the Thiruvananthapuram airport to “its fullest, thereby providing a better facility to businesses & locals & attracting investors”.

“The people of Thiruvananthapuram want a first-class airport worthy of the city’s history, status and potential. In this context, a decision, however, controversial, is preferable to the long delay we have suffered,” he had tweeted.

Goswami said, “It is ridiculous that the Congress is now opposing a system started by it. Even senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has lauded the recent move to hand over the Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala in a similar manner and hoped that it would help in improving the facility.”

The BJP also used Tharoor’s stand to dismiss the protests staged by the Assam Congress on Monday against the move to privatise the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here, the only international airport in the Northeast.

“In this context, the opposition of Assam Congress has exposed its politically motivated stand on the issue. It is the Congress (government) that had leased out operations of Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad international airports and all these airports are world-class facilities. We have engaged the Adani group through the PPP mode. We have not sold the airports,” Goswami said.

Adani Enterprises had won the bid to manage six airports in a global competitive bidding process involving 9 companies.

The Northeast Congress Coordination Committee (NECC) has also strongly opposed the move while the Airport Authority Employees Union (AAEU) members have been protesting since the announcement by the Centre on August 19. Assam PCC chief Ripun Bora has said the BJP was privatising properties built by the Congress and that the Centre should have waited for the court verdict on petitions challenging the move.

According to NECC general secretary Padi Richo, the Centre’s move reflected its “inability” to run even profit-making public undertakings.

The Kerala Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution moved by chief minister and CPM leader Pinarayi Vijayan urging the Centre to reconsider the decision to hand over the Thiruvananthapuram airport through the PPP mode.