Software Project Transparent; Chennithala's Allegations Groundless: Chief Minister

Palakkad: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has dismissed the allegations made by Ramesh Chennithala regarding corruption worth 700 crores in the cooperative software project, calling them baseless. The Chief Minister stated at a press conference in Palakkad that all phases of the project were transparent and that the allegations, including claims of excluding other companies, were completely false.

In 2021, a tender was issued for implementing public software across 4,415 cooperative institutions for 206 crores, and a Letter of Intent (LOI) was issued to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). However, TCS unilaterally withdrew from the project in October 2024. Subsequently, in March 2025, a meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary decided to issue a new tender.

After detailed examination by the high-level committee and approval from the legal department, the technical and financial bids were evaluated, and the tender process was completed. The High Court also granted permission to continue the tender process and award the contract to the successful bidder.

The key feature of the new project is that the data and source code will remain under government ownership, unlike the previous SAAS model. If the SaaS model had been followed, the cost to extend the software across the entire cooperative sector would have been around 1,000 crores. Now, the software can be implemented in approximately 23,000 cooperative organisations at a lower cost.

The allegation of excluding other companies is also false. Around 45 companies were given the opportunity to participate in a consortium. The company that received the highest technical score was selected, and the High Court approved this decision. The Chief Minister emphasised that the entire process was transparent and that the allegations were unfounded.