Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 23 (IANS): A senior CPI-M leader on Thursday hit out at the opposition Congress for trying to "portray the Kerala government in poor light" over the the Sprinklr controversy involving sharing of data of Covid-19 suspects to the US-based company.

"The CPI-M in Kerala is solidly behind Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan," said Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, state party General Secretary.

Balakrishnan while taking part in a video conference with the media said there is no ambiguity in the data transfer and that there is no need for any worry about data's safety and security.

"Even the Chief Minister's daughter's name has been dragged. They (opposition Congress) have not been able to substantiate their allegations with any proof. This data transfer took place after it was pointed out that in the worst case scenario, Kerala will have 8 million coronavirus positive cases. "So, the government had to act swiftly and they did," said Balakrishnan.

"The government looked at the exigency of the situation and acted. We have no qualms about examining it (the Sprinklr issue), but at the moment, the priority is to ensure that the coronavirus pandemic does not get out of hand. The party will examine the issue when the situation returns to normalcy," added Balakrishnan.

Earlier in the day, leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala, who had first raised the issue early this month, was in no mood to relent. Slamming Vijayan, Chennithala accused the CM of trying to wriggle out by projecting the way he was targeted when he and then Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan (2006-11) were caught in a war of words.

"Why should he raise that issue now, it's an issue involving his party, in which others have no interest? He is now playing the sympathy card to wriggle out of one of the biggest scams the state has seen," Chennithala told media on Thursday.