Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Tourism Minister P A Mohammed Riyas on Sunday said that the Left government in the state and its ministers would never "knowingly" invite spies here and provide them with all facilities.

Riyas made the remark in response to reporters' queries regarding BJP leader K Surendran's allegation that social media influencer Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested in May on suspicion of spying for Pakistan, was invited to Kerala for promoting tourism in the state.

Surendran, in a post on social media platform 'X', also referred to an RTI reply confirming such an invitation to Malhotra and questioned why "a Pak-linked spy's trip" was sponsored by Kerala Tourism.

The BJP leader had made such allegations on 'X' earlier too.

Dismissing such allegations, Riyas said that the government or its ministers would never knowingly invite a spy to the state and said that they were not scared by such propaganda.

"We don't give any value to such propaganda as the people are with us," the minister said.