CPI irked by Sprinklr deal, KM Shaji controversy

CPI irked by Sprinklr deal, KM Shaji controversy

Thiruvananthapuram: The Communist Party of India (CPI) leadership has been irked by the Kerala government's decision to share health data with US-based firm Sprinklr amid COVID-19 pandemic. The cabinet did not discuss the matter before the deal was signed nor were the due procedures followed, the party pointed out.

The CPI also is of the opinion that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan chose to target opposition MLA K M Shaji at an inopportune moment and that both these instances have given ammunition to the opposition UDF to train guns on the ruling alliance.

The CPI criticised the government for losing out on all the accolades it won for successfully leading the fight against COVID-19. However, the CPI is unlikely to take a public stance as no party meetings are held during the lockdown period. Nor will the CPI attempt to corner the government over these controversies.

The opposition Congress has been targetting the Kerala government over the deal with Sprinklr. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, who first raised the issue, said the government had compromised the data of millions by facilitating an illegal deal with a US firm. The government has time and again said that the company, owned by Keralite Ragi Thomas, is offering its services to the state for free. Both the company and the government rubbished the opposition charges too, saying there will not be any data breach.

Issues flagged by CPI, discreetly

• The actions taken by the Chief Minister, who had led the government from the front, were also responsible in triggering the controversy.

• The IT department and principal secretary M Shivasankar led the Sprinklr deal. While Pinarayi holds the IT portfolio, Shivasankar is also secretary to the CM.

• How can the departmental secretary discreetly engage in a deal while keeping the cabinet in the dark?

• The government's move to sign a deal with a foreign private company without adequate checks is startling.

• The LDF government went against the Left policies on data safety.

• Half of the issues could have been avoided if the matter was left for the Law Department's scrutiny.

• The cabinet did not discuss the issue at any point.

• Minister E Chandrasekharan, who took part in the CM's COVID-19 review meetings, was also not taken into confidence.

• By bringing up K M Shaji's Facebook post during the press meet and filing a case against him, the home department brought the opposition together.

The top brass of the CPM and CPI have discussed these issues, according to sources. However, the CPI leadership has reportedly not taken up the issue with the Chief Minister.

CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said that he did not want to respond to controversial issues now as no party-level talks were held.

CPM meet

The CPM state secretariat will meet on Tuesday. Due to the lockdown, even the available secretariat meetings were not held for a month. Only those members, who are in Thiruvananthapuram, and those, who can make it to the Kerala capital, will take part in the meet, which gains importance amid the Sprinklr controversy.

Minister Balan slams opposition

Law Minister A K Balan said that the opposition was defaming the CM by spreading false information on the Sprinklr issue.

"The Sprinklr company has not taken any data from the state. The IT department had tasked the company to analyse the data collected by the health and local departments.

"The only point to be verified is whether the company is capable for the task. That's for IT department to decide and not the opposition. When the opposition raised concerns over data security, the system was made fool-proof. Still, if there is data leak, then only legal action can be taken,” he explained.

The minister further said that the law department does not have to be informed about all the actions of every department.

"The file has to be forwarded to the law department only if the administration department deems it to be needful. Only they are responsible for any issues linked to it. What is wrong in accepting the technical knowledge that is free?” he asked.

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