Kozhikode (Kerala) | Kerala Tourism Minister P C Vishnunadh on Friday rejected allegations by CPI(M) MLA K U Jenish Kumar that he failed to visit flood-hit areas in Pathanamthitta while coordinating relief operations, saying the criticism was baseless and amounted to "dirty politics" during a disaster.

The minister was responding to reporters' questions on Konni MLA KU Jenish Kumar's allegation that he merely held review meetings at the taluk office and did not visit the affected areas.

Calling the criticism "dirty politics", Vishnunadh said such allegations should not be made while relief operations were under way.

"What I am saying is that we are in politics and allegations will always be made. But such accusations should be made with at least a sense of humanity. That is all I have to say. If he disagrees, let him deny it," he said.

Vishnunadh said that it is not the time for us to make allegations, accusations, or comparisons with past events.

"Otherwise, we could ask whether Chief Ministers visited every single place in the past. But people do not want such petty arguments at a time like this. They are suffering in camps. No one likes staying in a relief camp. Everyone prefers to stay in their own homes if possible," he said.

According to him, when people are living in relief camps, this is not the time for politicians to talk about the ruling side versus the opposition, or boast about what they did versus what others failed to do.

"Let the right time come, and we can discuss all of them," he said.

Rejecting the charge, Vishnunadh said he had reached Pathanamthitta on August 1 and visited relief camps along with Kumar.

"He alleged that I was sleeping at the guest house. Here is a photograph of both of us visiting relief camps together. I was the one who called him and suggested that we hold a meeting at the Konni Taluk Office. We discussed the timing, and before that I had already visited Thiruvalla, inspected flood-affected areas, visited relief camps and held another review meeting there," he said.

The minister said the meeting with local representatives, including the MLA and panchayat representatives, highlighted the severe crop losses suffered by farmers, prompting the government to take up the issue in the Cabinet.

"Based on the assessment from the flood-hit areas, the Cabinet decided to increase crop loss compensation by 25 per cent. This is the first such increase in many years," he said.

The minister said he had also arranged for 14 fishing boats with experienced fishermen from his native Kollam district to assist in rescue operations.

"They reached during the night and rescued hundreds of people. There was no electricity, and the rescue operations continued throughout the night under extremely difficult conditions," he said.

The minister also said the government had acted promptly on public health concerns in the district.

"When I received a letter regarding a suspected Shigella case, I convened a meeting of Health Department officials the very next day without any delay. A month before the floods, we had also held preparedness meetings, identified relief camps in advance and ensured that they had basic facilities such as toilets and electricity.

Regarding the allegation that the Chief Minister only visited selected camps, Vishnunadh said that VD Satheesan did not differentiate between ruling front MLAs and opposition MLAs.

"There is a camp in the Adoor assembly constituency; he did not go there either. He did not go to Konni either. Instead, he visited three assembly constituencies facing the most hardship and having the most affected camps," the minister said.