Kerala Govt’s Deal With US Firm On Sharing Covid-19 Data: CM Vijayan’s Daughter Met Sprinklr Chief 6 Times, Alleges Congress MLA

The Kerala Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s deal with a US firm to record data of Coronavirus (Covid-19) patients has now resulted in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter’s name being dragged in the already raging controversy.

Congress legislative member in the Kerala Assembly Eldhose Kunnappily, who represents Perambavoor constituency in Ernakulam district, has alleged that Chief Minister’s daughter Veena Vijayan has “links” with Sprinklr founder Ragi Thomas, who hails from Mavelikkara in Alappuzha district.

He claimed she had met Thomas at least six times in the United States and said that the Chief Minister owes a clarification on this.

Senior Congress leader P T Thomas has alleged that the sudden disappearance of the website of a Bengaluru-based IT firm, Exalogic Solutions, owned by Vijayan’s daughter, could be traced to the Kerala government deal with the US firm Sprinklr.

Veena’s IT firm has been in operation since 2014 and its website disappeared suddenly after the controversy over Sprinklr deal broke out, Thomas charged, adding that the Bengaluru firm was established and had paid goods and services tax until this year.

However, Vijayan, who heads the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, has denied the allegations.

He told media at the daily briefing on COVID-19 that those making the allegations should provide evidence. Stating that he had nothing to hide, he said he was not perturbed over the personal allegations.

A few hours later, Kunnappilly said he had received death threats after he made the allegations against Vijayan’s daughter and he had filed a complaint with the Director-General of Police.

Two other developments have taken place, much to the chagrin of the CPM government in Kerala. One, at least two top Communist Party of India (CPI) leaders have now come out against the data deal with Sprinklr.

First, CPI General Secretary D Raja said the Vijayan government ought to provide a credible explanation to the public on the Sprinklr deal. He also said there was no change in CPI’s stand on data privacy.

On Wednesday (22 April), CPI Kerala unit secretary Kanam Rajendran charged that the Kerala government deal with the US firm was ambiguous. He wondered why the deal was not discussed in the Cabinet and said the party’s displeasure had been expressed to State CPM chief Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Second, leader of the Kerala Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) Ramesh Chennithala has filed a petition in the Kerala High Court to scrap the Sprinklr deal.

Chennithala, the senior Congress leader who has alleged that the deal is a Rs 200 crore scam, urged that all those whose data had been transferred should be compensated.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had begun using the citizen experience management platform of Sprinklr to help it record data on Covid-19 patients and suspects.

Media reports in Kerala have alleged that US pharmaceutical major Pfizer has reportedly obtained the data of COVID-19 patients in the state. (Details are here.)

Sprinklr had offered its services as “donation” but the terms for obtaining and storing data have been questioned. There are also questions over the charges for the services provided by the firm. (Details are here).

The Kerala High Court has also asked the CPM Government to explain why the Law Department did not vet the deal, why no dispute on the deal could be dealt with by courts in the country and why a cloud platform is being used despite a decrease in the number of cases in the States.

The controversy over the Sprinklr deal has pushed to the background the credit the Government had got for tackling Coronavirus pandemic in some quarters.

So far, 438 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Kerala with the numbers topping double figures in the last couple of days. For over a week, the State reported positive cases in single digits.

While the pandemic has claimed three lives, 323 persons have recovered from Coronavirus till now.