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Came to know about MoU with US company when the agreement became a controversy: Kerala CM

Addressing a public rally organised here in connection with the culmination of LDF’s ‘Vikasanamunnetta Yatra’, CM Vijayan said as the controversial MoU came to his notice, the government gave orders to cancel it.

Came to know about MoU with US company when the agreement became a controversy: Kerala CM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (Photo: Twitter | @vijayanpinarayi)

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said that he came to know about the MoU signed between Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation and US firm EMCC International India Pvt. Ltd for deep sea fishing on Kerala coast only when the agreement became a controversy.

Addressing a public rally organised here in connection with the culmination of LDF’s ‘Vikasanamunnetta Yatra’, CM Vijayan said as the controversial MoU came to his notice, the government gave orders to cancel it.

Stating that the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is reluctant to take on the BJP, CM Vijayan said that the statements made by him against the LDF government doesn’t suit the stature of a national leader.

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Earlier on Friday, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that CM Pinarayi Vijayan and two of his cabinet colleagues, fisheries minister J Mercykutty Amma and industries minister E P Jayarajan,was time and again asked about this deal, said that they don’t remember anything about it. “When they were caught red-handed, each one of them was lying or their stock answer is, they don’t remember”, he said.

“Just look back, each time Pinarayi Vijayan was caught napping, be it in sprinkler or gold smuggling case, he got away by putting the blame on the bureaucracy. Look, in this deep-sea controversial deal, he has again blamed the officials. I fail to understand that if Pinarayi Vijayan has no clue about anything that’s happening in his department, then why he is sitting in the chair of the chief minister,” asked Chennithala.

Last Friday, Chennithala alleged massive corruption in awarding deep-sea fishing rights to a US-based multinational company. He said Rs 5,000-crore deal was signed by the government with EMCC. The deepsea fishing deal would hand over Kerala’s rich marine resources to the foreign firm, he further said.

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