Shailaja exploring legal options to counter hate campaign

March 20, 2024 07:18 pm | Updated 08:37 pm IST - Vadakara (Kozhikode)

K.K. Shailaja, Mattannur MLA, and Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, is exploring legal options to counter the alleged hate campaign against her by political rivals.

This comes against the backdrop of the circulation of a video on social media in which certain United Democratic Front (UDF) activists are seen raising slogans calling Ms. Shailaja “Covid Kalli” (Covid-time thief), referring to the corruption allegations related to the purchase of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits during the pandemic when she was the Health Minister. Ms. Shailaja is pitted against the UDF’s Shafi Parambil in the Vadakara segment.

“This shows their culture. People need to understand who is prompting them to make such jibes. Dirty politics is at play. If anyone is trying to gain dominance on social media through such remarks, it will turn counterproductive,” she told The Hindu during a stopover at Kuttamath near Vadakara on Thursday.

Ms. Shailaja said that in the initial months of COVID-19, there had been a severe shortage of PPE kits and the stock would have lasted only a couple of days. “Officials of the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd., the government agency involved in providing services to government healthcare institutions, told me that one company was willing to supply the kits for ₹1,500 a piece,” she said. Discussions were held with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and various department heads. It was decided to quickly place the orders. “At the time of disasters, norms in the stock purchase manual, the basis of government procurements, can be bypassed. If we had waited for the formalities to get over, the stock would have got over. We could save the lives of not only the healthcare workers, but thousands of patients as well. Though we placed orders for 50,000 kits, only 15,000 were given.” she pointed out.