THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has denied any meaningful engagement with US-based EMCC in the deep-sea fishing trawler deal, which was against the LDF’s 2016 election manifesto that promised to protect the interest of local fishermen, since the controversy broke out in February. However, the documents that came into public domain on Thursday show that the Chief Minister’s Office was in the know of the deal before it was signed. The screenshots of WhatsApp chats between Kerala Shipping Inland Development Corporation Limited (KSINC) managing director N Prasanth and CM’s additional private secretary Dhinesh Bhaskar revealed that the former had informed the latter about the deal on February 1, a day before the deal was signed.
It was followed by another message confirming the deal and Bhaskar congratulated Prasanth for clinching it. Similar messages were exchanged between Prasanth and additional chief secretary T K Jose, who was heading the inland navigation department then. Interestingly, the chief minister had entrusted Jose with the probe into the allegations when the deal became a controversy.
Faced with mounting pressure, the government took an exit route and cancelled the agreement on February 22. However, the new revelations came as another embarrassment for the LDF just days before the assembly elections. The chief minister, however, put up a brave face during a public interaction in Kollam on Thursday and blamed Prasanth for signing the deal without the government’s knowledge.
Though Pinarayi and Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma had claimed that they were not aware of the deal, the decision to cancel it came after Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala came up with fresh evidence of the involvement of the government at various stages of the deal. Chennithala also alleged that the company representatives had also met the chief minister.