Got better things to do, CM tells media on Sprinklr row

TNN | Apr 21, 2020, 14:46 IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has once again made it clear that he was not ready to discuss the deal between the IT department and US-firm Sprinklr to analyse personal data collected as part Covid-19 prevention campaign as his “priority is not that”.
“We are now fighting against a virus. Hence, the concentration should be against the pandemic and not behind the allegations,” he said adding, “I have already made everything clear. I have nothing further to add.” He said he does not consider it as a serious allegation but for the media, it might be serious. “Everyone will understand the motives behind the allegations,” he added.
On the reports in a section of media that the party politburo has rejected the explanation from the state party unit on the allegations, Vijayan said: “The media itself is creating its own stories and this is not a new phenomenon.”
Recalling the aggressive media campaign against him during the ‘save CPM forum’ days, Vijayan said, “There was a tendency to propagate news that was created at a particular place. Later a person among the group had revealed that all the reports made by this group were part of a campaign. This one should also be seen with the same agenda,” said Vijayan.
“That campaign had become the part of the history and I had faced several such campaigns before coming to this chair. My duty is not to answer to all the allegations raised by each individual. I have several responsibilities and I am giving more thrust to that,” he said.
Answering to further queries, Vijayan asked reporters not to be bothered by these allegations much as he was least bothered about those.
Meanwhile, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran alleged that the CM is running away from the allegations against his office. “It will be for the first time that a chief minister in the state is staying away from the allegations levelled against him,” he said. “When the chief minister decided to convene the news conference, everyone felt that he would come out with a detailed explanation about the Sprinklr agreement. But he chose to run away from it. Instead, he chose to blame the media,’’ said the KPCC president.
He also alleged that the stand taken by the CPM politburo to protect the chief minister in the deal would be suicidal.