Kerala CM refutes Shah's claim

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday refuted Union Home Minister Amit Shah's claim that the state government was warned as early as July 23 regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains and said that it was not the time for “blame game”.

Vijayan said that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides. However, the district received over 500 millimeters of rainfall, which was extremely higher than what was predicted by the IMD. "A red alert was issued for the district only after the landslides hit there on Tuesday morning," Vijayan said.