Kochi, March 31 (IANS) Senior Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala, on Tuesday, demanded an apology from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and State Cooperation Minister V.N. Vasavan after the Kerala High Court stayed proceedings related to a controversial software deal in the cooperative sector.

Chennithala said the court’s intervention prima facie establishes allegations of corruption in the proposed project to install software across primary cooperative societies in the state.

He accused the state government of attempting to award the contract to the Dinesh Beedi Cooperative Society despite it quoting significantly higher rates.

He alleged that when he first exposed the issue, the Chief Minister had mocked him and defended the deal as beneficial to the state government, while the Minister Vasavan had dismissed the claims.

“Both (Vijayan and Vasavan) must now apologise to the people of Kerala for misleading them during the election period,” Chennithala said.

Detailing the tender process, Chennithala said that bids were invited to install software in 4,415 branches of 1,612 cooperative societies.

“While Malabar Information Technology Cooperative quoted Rs 231.7 crore for the entire project, the Dinesh consortium quoted Rs 49.9 crore only for 280 branches.”

Based on this, Chennithala said, the per-branch cost of the Dinesh consortium bid works out to Rs 17.8 lakh, compared to Rs 5.24 lakh quoted by Malabar IT.

“If extended to all branches, the Dinesh consortium’s cost would rise to around Rs 785 crore, causing a loss of nearly Rs 550 crore to the state exchequer,” he claimed.

Chennithala also alleged that the tender conditions were designed to exclude major firms, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and prevent reputed international companies from participating.

He accused the state government of bypassing standard tender norms and attempting to push the deal during the election period with special permission from the Election Commission.

He said the Kerala High Court was approached by Malabar Information Technology Cooperative against the state government’s move to award the contract to the Dinesh consortium.

The reverse auction for the project was conducted in mid-February 2026, with only two bidders qualifying in the technical round.

“The government’s attempt to push through a massive scam in the final days of its tenure has been exposed. If implemented, this would have caused a huge financial loss to the state,” Chennithala alleged, adding that the Chief Minister’s claims of the deal being beneficial were “completely misleading”.

–IANS

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