Over the past month, the opposition in Kerala has unleashed a series of attacks on the LDF government following its decision to hand over the tender of producing the Chief Minister’s talk show from state-run Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) to Kairali TV, which is a channel run by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The landslide victory achieved by the UDF in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls in the state has ensured that they went all guns blazing at the LDF during the Assembly session. And so, the Chief Minister was forced to give a clarification on Wednesday, on the floor of the Assembly. Pinarayi Vijayan said that the reason for handing over the production of the show to Kairali TV was logistical, and denied any irregularity in the matter.
The controversy
In December 2017, the Kerala government started a talk show which was named as “Naam Munnottu”, which loosely translates to “We, Forward”. It was a show in which Pinarayi Vijayan, the Kerala CM, would communicate, discuss, and debate with a selected audience on various developmental programmes implemented by the government. This talk show used to be broadcasted in various channels as well as on YouTube.
C-DIT, which was an organisation established by the Government of Kerala in 1988 for the purpose of advanced research and development and training in the field of technology, was handed over the responsibility of producing “Naam Munnottu”.
But earlier this month, the Kerala government handed over the tender of producing the show to CPI(M)’s Kairali channel, a move which is said to have come as a major blow to C-DIT, which was already reported to have been going through a rough patch, financially. This move has come under severe criticism from all corners of the opposition, as the move is seen as a way to rescue the party’s channel, which is also alleged to be sailing through troubled waters financially.
The Opposition was quick to criticise the state government regarding this move as leaders like Ramesh Chennithala and KC Joseph of the Congress, and V Muraleedharan of the BJP, came out with public statements accusing the LDF of trying to “sabotage a public organisation” and for “snatching away major projects from C-DIT to private bodies.”
On May 16, Kerala’s opposition leader, Ramesh Chennithala posted a copy of a statement made by Pinarayi Vijayan, as a response to KC Joseph during one of the Assembly sessions last year. The Kerala CM stated that the government has only tried to strengthen C-DIT, in whichever way it can. “This action (handing over tender to Kairali TV) by the government is the perfect example that they say one thing and do another thing,” said Ramesh Chennithala, referring to the state government’s promise of protecting all public and government organisations, when they came to power.
Meanwhile, BJP leader V Muraleedharan said, “There is obviously some sort of corruption that has taken place behind this move. Also, the state government wants to use people’s money in order to rescue their party channel which is running at a loss.”
Both Ramesh Chennithala and V Muraleedharan had stated that a vigilance probe should be ordered against the “massive corruption” that is being played behind C-DIT projects.
What the CM had to say
Responding to the allegations against the government, Pinarayi Vijayan, during the Assembly session on Wednesday cited logistical and technical issues as the reason for handing over the tender for producing the “Naam Munnottu” talk show to Kairali TV. C-DIT does not have studio space, and the shoots were therefore scheduled at different studios, which was not easy for the participants, he said.
“There was a demand from the guests participating in the show for the shoot to take place in a single location. We invited tenders from television channels with a larger studio and state of the art facilities,” the CM said.
The government invited tenders to produce the show, and channels like Kairali (Malayalam Communications) and another prominent Malayalam channel had applied for the tender. C-DIT, too, had applied for the tender, but since they do not have a studio and their cost of producing a show was also Rs 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh, they lost out to Kairali. Kairali quoted Rs 2.5 lakh, the other channel had quoted more than that, the CM said.
“We went with the lowest quote, which was that of Malayalam Communications,” Pinarayi Vijayan said.
He added that because of the efforts taken by the LDF government, the annual income of C-DIT increased from Rs 36.73 crore during the 2011-16 (period of UDF government) to Rs 68 crore as the average annual income during the LDF government’s period.
Responding to accusations that the state government is snatching away projects from C-DIT, Pinarayi Vijayan argued that C-DIT continues to be involved in various fields of Information and Technology in the state. “The government has spent Rs 11 crore during the previous two financial years only to improve the technological facilities in C-DIT,” said the Kerala CM, “Video documentations, archives, registration work for various government departments are being taken care of by C-DIT. Along with this, they are the ones who are in charge of taking care of the social media pages and websites of the Chief Minister and other ministers.”