War of words over funds to SCTIMST

Thiruvananthapuram: Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor were engaged in a fierce battle on Twitter over Tharoor’s donation of Rs 1 crore from the MP fund to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology.
Minister V Muraleedharan tweeted that an RTI plea has ‘busted the claim made by Tharoor of donating Rs 1 crore from MPLAD scheme. The institute has not received the fund.’
Tharoor lashed out at the minister and the BJP government at the Centre for not giving a sanction to the institute to produce the Covid-19 testing kits, which is pending approval for the past two months.
“For over 2 months, kits developed by the government owned SCTIMST and RGCB have been pending GOI approval. On the other hand, Pvt labs had their kits approved in a matter of days. Can any of you explain why our institutes have been kept waiting for this long,” asked Tharoor in a tweet.
“A scurrilous tweet by a BJP MOS, @VMBJP, accusing me of “lying” about donating 1 crore to the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram, prompts this detailed clarification. The grant was authorised on 30 March before GOI suspended MPLADS funds,” Tharoor tweeted.
He said the Rs 1 crore was allotted to SCTIMST towards the purchase of Covid-19 rapid testing devices to the district collector. Fund has not yet been transferred to SCTIMST since the delivery of the testing devices has not yet been fulfilled by SCTIMST.
“It is pretty disgraceful when a minister, who can easily check the facts, lies by accusing an MP of lying,” said Tharoor. “This BJP government has a shameful pattern; it fails to perform and then it attacks the opposition for allegedly not doing the government’s job, he said. The cretinous tweet by @VMBJP is merely the latest example of this. He should apologise for accusing me of lying when I’ve been fully transparent,” Tharoor tweeted.
“If Centre’s argument is that the SCTIMST kits are not yet ready for production and therefore the collector cannot authorise the release of the Rs 1 crore allotted by me on March 30, then why is a minister attacking me publicly for something his government has been delaying,” Tharoor asked.