Did Muraleedharan attend Kerala meeting on Covid? Left, BJP differ

Confusion persisted on if whether the sole Union Minister from Kerala, V. Muraleedharan, attended a meeting on Covid-19 called by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, through video conference, on Tuesday morning, as the former said he did not take part, while the latter said he was present.

Speaking to the media at his regular daily Covid-19 briefing, Vijayan, asked if Muraleedharan, the junior Minister of External Affairs, took part in the meeting of all law makers from the state on Covid issues, replied: "Yes, he took part. The meeting got extended and we all expected Muraleedharan would speak about what the Centre is planning. But since he had a meeting to attend, he left early."

But Muraleedharan told the media that since there was no official invitation from the state government, he did not take part.

"It was yesterday after 4 p.m, a Whats App message came to the mobile of my personal staff about a meeting of all lawmakers that would be chaired by the Chief Minister. It was a copy of the letter that was given to all MPs from Kerala. It said the respective lawmakers would be present at their respective district collectorate. That platform was however not available to me. Moreover at 11 a.m, I had to attend a meeting of the Vande Bharat Mission. Had I been invited in the manner a Union Minister is invited by a state government, I would have taken part," he said.

State BJP President K. Surendran said Vijayan has told a lie.

( With inputs from IANS )