Tharoor, Muraleedharan engage in Twitter spat over donation from MPLADS Fund

A tweet by Minister of State V Muraleedharan has triggered a war of words between him and Congress Leader and MP Shashi Tharoor over the latter’s statement that he had donated Rs 1 crore from his MPLAD funds to the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology.

Muraleedharan tweeted that Tharoor's claim was proved wrong in an RTI reply and asked him to stop lying.

Reacting to this, , the Thiruvananthapuram MP asked Muraleedharan to apologise for accusing him of lying and that he should convince the central government to support institutes and approve their kits instead of sitting on Twitter.

"This BJP government has a shameful pattern: it fails to perform and then it attacks the Opposition for allegedly not doing the government'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," Tharoor tweeted.

Tharoor gave a detailed explanation saying the grant was authorised on March 30 before the Centre suspended the MPLADS funds. Subsequently, the district administration (the nodal agency for MPLAD distribution) and the institute administration requested to give the same amount as funding against purchase.

"Why? The Govt's own revised MPLAD guidelines did not allow support of development and so only purchase could be authorised. Accordingly, allotment was made by letter of 30/3 giving 1 crore on the understanding that SCTIMST would get the funds once kits were developed," he said.

Tharoor raised questions that for over two months, kits developed by government-owned SCTIMST and RGCB, Kerala's premier institutes, have been pending approval. On the other hand, private 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? he asked.

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. pic.twitter.com/txwOKhXbke

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 1, 2020