THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition UDF will continue its protest against the government for excluding the C-DIT from important government assignments. KC Joseph, MLA, who was earlier the Information and Public Relations Minister, told Express Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had misrepresented facts while defending the government’s decision to replace C-DIT with Kairali TV to produce the weekly ‘Naam Munnottu’ show.
Express had earlier reported that the government had selected Kairali TV as the production agency through an arbitrary tendering process which favoured the party-controlled channel. On Wednesday, the Chief Minister told the Assembly the government opted for another agency following a request from C-DIT.
“The C-DIT cited difficulty in continuing the show since it was also assigned with the live telecast of the State Lottery draw. Hence, Expression of Interest(EoI) was invited from production houses functioning within city limits,” he said.
Joseph said the Chief Minister conveniently ignored the fact that several crores were spent on renovating the state-owned Chitranjali Studio and the C-DIT’s city studio for shooting the CM’s show.
“The Chitranjali Studio has revamped at a cost of Rs 8 crore. The shooting was later shifted to the C-DIT studio at Gorky Bhavan in the city. The second studio too was renovated after spending several lakhs,” Joseph said.
“Also, the C-DIT did not made any request to exclude it from the show. Another reason the CM cited was the requirement of a more spacious shooting floor. This too is unnecessary since there will only be four-six panellists and the CM participating in the show. Moreover, the former CMs used only government facilities since it involves handling of government files,” he said.
Joseph said the CM lied to him while replying to a question during the Assembly’s previous session in January. “He even ridiculed me. He said I was raising questions based on hearsay. He then categorically stated that C-DIT will not be replaced. But later the work was awarded to the party channel through a dubious tendering process,” he said.