Kerala’s LoP Vijayan accuses UDF of attempting to divert public attention from shoddy disaster response by raising “Missing Messi” row
He said the government merely backed a private sponsor’s proposal to host the team and Messi in Kerala in 2025. However, it was not party to any agreement between the private sponsor and the Argentine Football Association. The LDF government had neither invested in the project nor taken on any financial responsibility, including as a guarantor
Kerala's Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government and its supporters in the right-wing corporate media of attempting to divert public attention away from the administration's poor response to recent floods. Vijayan pointed to a "missing Messi" row as a smokescreen being used by the UDF to deflect from the government's botched handling of the flood situation.
The Kerala government is reportedly considering an anti-corruption inquiry into a sports initiative that aimed to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup-winning Argentina football team and their captain, Lionel Messi, for a friendly match in Kochi in 2025. The project, which was supported by the government but not financially backed by it, reportedly cost the public exchequer heavily and exposed potential malpractices including money laundering, service tax fraud, and corruption.
Vijayan stated that the LDF government played no role in the project financially or contractually, and that former Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman had clarified that the public exchequer sustained no loss in connection to the initiative. When questioned about Abdurahiman's visit to Spain to discuss the deal, Vijayan affirmed that a minister does not need a contractual agreement to travel abroad.
He further noted that the LDF government welcomed the proposed anti-corruption enquiry, emphasizing that the current UDF government's concerns about the project stem from the sports department's problematic inquiry reports, which they believe are being used to retaliate against the LDF for highlighting the administration's failure to respond effectively to the floods.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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