THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM on Sunday deftly defended Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his government in the Artificial Intelligence camera “scam”, even as the Congress said it will take legal recourse seeking a judicial probe into the entire episode.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala shot off an open letter to the CM, expressing surprise over his reaction to the allegations. Chennithala said the charges he raised were based on documents, and not fabricated as claimed by Pinarayi.
CPM state secretary M V Govindan said the government has entered into a contract with Keltron, and it was Keltron that gave subcontracts to other companies. As per the original agreement between the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) and Keltron, the latter had the rights to do so, he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. In the cabinet note also there was mention about the companies that were given the contracts and subcontracts.
“Not a single rupee has been spent from the exchequer for the project. And the opposition is alleging Rs 100-crore corruption,” he said. Govindan alleged that the opposition has backtracked from the charges raised about purchasing the cameras.
Administrative sanction for Rs 232 crore was given for the entire project. Of this, Rs 142 crore was spent for installing cameras. Rs 56.24 crore is the amount to be given to SRIT as performance cost for five years, and Rs 35.76 crore is GST. “Where does Rs 100 crore corruption figure in this,” the CPM state secretary asked.
Congress to move court seeking judicial probe into AI camera & K-FON scams
The document released by Chennithala was about the contract between SRIT and Presadio. But those were not connected with Keltron, he said. Asked about Pinarayi not responding to the allegations, Govindan said, “The CM need not reply to the unscrupulous charges. He had ordered a vigilance inquiry after he got a petition. Since that inquiry is going on, he need not speak on the subject.
The rent paid for the guest house owned by a relative of the CM is being twisted to accuse Pinarayi of being associated with a company. The industries minister has already answered all queries regarding the issue,” he said. Meanwhile, state Congress president K Sudhakaran said the party would approach court seeking a judicial probe on “scams” related to both the AI camera and K-FON.
“Whatever evidence has emerged so far is only the tip of an iceberg,” he alleged. The government has been shying away from a judicial probe as they fear truth will come out in such a probe, he alleged. “The chief minister’s ploy to create smokescreen on the allegations raised by the UDF and Congress will not succeed. The CM and his team have been looting the tax payers’ money.
Only a judicial probe would unravel the truth,” he said. In his letter, Chennithala claimed that the chief minister’s defence has been “very weak”. “You tried to evade the allegations casually claiming that it’s all false. You have also tried to rubbish off the claims made by the opposition citing that it will not affect you. How can you claim it as false when the opposition had been coming out with incriminating evidence against the government and Keltron?” he asked. He challenged the CM to release the original documents.