THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ruling CPM on Sunday fielded its top leaders to defend the state government’s controversial data deal with US-based Sprinklr in a bid to insulate Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from the corruption allegation.
Left leaders defended the decision to upload the health data of people under COVID -19 surveillance on the Sprinklr website, which was shifted to the C-DIT server after the Opposition highlighted the deal. Law Minister A K Balan said there is a conspiracy to tarnish the chief minister’s image after his daily COVID press briefing received unprecedented support from various quarters. Stating that the IT department was solely handling the deal and the law department had no need to intervene in it at any point of time, he said the Opposition is annoyed by the public acceptance of the government.
Highlights of the claims of CPM leaders
A K Balan, Law Minister
The IT department has not found any fault with entrusting the work with Sprinklr. “Kerala has successfully handled the COVID situation. The IT department which knows the value of data has taken all steps regarding its safety. “The Opposition is trying to malign the chief minister’s image. The law department doesn’t have to intervene in the issue. “The same Opposition, at one point, had alleged that the flood was created by the government. If there is any mismanagement in the data handling, why is the Opposition reluctant to approach the court? The Opposition is merely upset over the popularity of the government.”
S Ramachandran Pillai, CPM politburo member
“The issues regarding Sprinklr can be discussed in detail after the COVID situation is fully brought under control. Now, the human lives are more important. Unusual steps have to be taken in unusual situations and the government action on Sprinklr was one such decision. This is not the right time to hold a discussion on the steps to be followed in a situation like this.
A Vijayaraghavan, LDF convener
“The Opposition is showing political intolerance with regard to the handling of the COVID situation in the state. The state has handled Nipah, Ockhi, floods and COVID which have boosted the Left government’s popularity and the Opposition is targeting it because of the same. The UDF is yet to come out of its hangover of the liberation struggle in 1959.”