1/8 A scurrilous tweet by a BJP MOS, @VMBJP , accusing me of “lying” about donating 1 cr to the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram, prompts this detailed clarification. The grant was authorised on 30 March before GOI suspended MPLADS funds. 
2/8: Given the institution's strong history of path-breaking innovation and the calibre of its scientists,I was confident that this would be successful & allocated this amount to the institute as the attachment shows.
3/8: Tweet3: Subsequently District admin (nodal agency for MPLAD distribution) &Institute admin requested me2give the same amount as funding against purchase. Why? Govt's own revised MPLAD guidelines did not allow support of development&so only purchase could be authorised.
4/8: Accordingly, allotment was made by letter of 30/3 giving 1cr on the understanding that SCTIMST would get the funds once kits were developed. This is straightforward but since @vmbjp has tagged @narendramodi & @AmitShah perhaps they can provide an answer to my next question:
5/8: For over 2 months kits developed by Govt owned SCTIMST & RGCB,Kerala's premier institutes, have been pending GOI approval. On the other hand, Pvt labs had their kits approved in a matter of days. Can any of you explain why our institutes have been kept waiting for this long?
6/8: And surely even @VMBJP can understand that for funds to be disbursed, purchase needs to be made; for purchase, production needs to start; and for production you need to convince your govt to support our institutes & approve their kits, instead of sitting on Twitter?
7/8: if GOI’s argument is that the SCTIMST kits are not yet ready for production & therefore the Collector cannot authorise the release of the 1 cr allotted by me on 30 March, then why is a GOI Minister attacking me publicly for something his Govt has been delaying?
8/8: ThisBJP Govt has a shameful pattern: it fails to perform &then it attacks theOpposition for allegedly not doing the Govt’s job. The cretinous tweet by @VMBJP is merely the latest example of this. He should apologise for accusing me of lying when I’ve been fully transparent.
