The article investigates the ongoing tussle between the central government and the Government of Kerala regarding the leasing of the Thiruvananthapuram airport to the private sector. It traces the genesis of the problem and the rationale of the state government demand for a role in the management of the airport.
Despite the central government’s auctioning away of the country’s major airports and Adani Enterprises cornering most of them, Kerala has refused to roll out the red carpet for the corporate giant that secured the lease for the Thiruvananthapuram airport. More than that, as Adani Enterprises is heading towards taking control of the Thiruvananthapuram airport along with five other airports in the country (Mangaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Guwahati), the Government of Kerala (GoK), in alliance with the opposition political parties, has challenged the claims made by the supporters of privatisation and the central government on the grounds of violation of socia