Thiruvananthapuram: Stung by serious allegations, which included his family, a peeved Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday refused to give any conclusive answers to the questions raised on the now controversial Sprinklr data scam.
The data scam refers to transferring health data of all coronavirus suspects in the state to a US based PR and marketing company – Sprinklr — owned by a Keralite.
Vijayan began his 45-minute briefing on Kerala’s fight against coronavirus by pointing out that the customary press meet should not be seen as an attempt to ‘blow one’s own trumpet’.
After finishing what he had to say, a peeved Vijayan said, “My priority is different and I don’t have any time for this,” referring to question raised on the data scam.
When asked if he was side-stepping the issue, the Chief Minister shot back, “Let history decide that.”.
When asked if it was not very serious that his daughter’s IT company’s website suddenly disappeared, he said, “Yes, very serious.”
On being asked that a leading vernacular media has pointed out that his party politburo was seized of this data scam, he went back to past (when he and his arch-rival V.S. Achuthanadan had serious difference of opinion) and said that “many of you would know of a group which was behind this baseless news.”
“I do not want to name the group. I do not have any time to waste on such issues,” he said.
When more questions were raised on the same topic, he again lost his cool and said that whatever has surfaced was baseless.
“Why are you worried, when I am not at all worried? Let those who are behind (Sprinklr) come out with the truth,” said Vijayan.
When the next question was asked with regard to the lockdown, a pleased Vijayan said, “Ah, good,” and answered it.
A few minutes later when a question again surfaced on the data scam, he lost his cool again and said, “You people should think straight. Some people here want to divert the issues.”
He then ended the media interaction by saying, “I have other important things to work on. I wanted to end this at 7 p.m. and don’t say now that I am running away.”
