Off side! Kerala govt suffers double blow in mess up over Messi-led Argentina's cancelled visit

Thiruvananthapuram: A much hyped attempt by the CPI(M) government in Kerala to bring FIFA World Cup champions Argentina team led by Lionel Messi to the state seems to have ended up as a double whammy.

Not only that the efforts to bring the world champions became futile, the government's claims that no money from the cash-strapped state exchequer will be spent for the purpose is turning out to be false.

As per information provided by the government under the Right to Information Act, Rs 13 lakh was spent for the visit of a government delegation led by the sports minister V Abdurahiman to Spain to meet the Argentina football team officials.

Last year the state government announced that the Argentina team would be brought to Kerala - an announcement that excited Kerala which is known for its football craze.

However, a few days back the sports minister himself informed that the Argentina team would not be visiting Kerala even as the sponsor paid the required amounts.

The visit was tentatively planned for October. But the Argentina team wanted to postpone it to next year, which the sponsors were not willing to do.

Since the local body and Assembly polls in Kerala are approaching the CPI(M) could have even highlighted the arrival of the world champions to the state as an achievement, that too by claiming that no money was spent from the cash strapped exchequer.

But the RTI reply says that Rs 13.04 lakh was spent from the sports development fund of the state government for the visit of the state delegation last September. The minister had also then posted photographs with the Argentinian football association officials on social media.

Kerala, especially north Kerala districts of Malappuram and Kozhikode, are much known for the football craze. Huge cutouts of popular players in a river in Kozhikode during the last world cup had even caught the attention of FIFA.