Kerala Govt to buy Kia Carnival for CM instead of previously approved Tata Harrier

Kerala State government has decided purchase a luxury MPV for Chief Minister. The decision has attracted a lot of criticism as the state is currently under serious financial trouble. Kerala Home Department has issued an order regarding the same. According to the order, Rs 88.69 crore was allocated to purchase four cars for Chief Minister’s Motorcade. This includes Chief Minister’s official car which will be a Kia Carnival MPV. Earlier, Tata Harrier was approved as the official vehicle for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. However Kia Carnival was now chosen over Tata Harrier after the recommendation from State Police Chief.

The money allocated for the vehicles will be used to buy a Kia Carnival Limousine variant and three Toyota Innova Crysta MPV for the motorcade. One of the Toyota Innova Crysta will be a 2.4 Z variant and the other two would be G Plus variants. The Kia Carnival was opted to be the official vehicle by Kerala Police Chief Anil Kant considering better security and safety features. The Innova’s will be used as the escort vehicle while the Chief Minister himself would use the Kia Carnival.

Currently, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan uses a Black colour Toyota Innova Crysta as his official vehicle. He was using a White colour Innova Crysta and it was only in January this year that he shifted to a Black one. The Toyota Innova and Innova Crysta was being used as the official vehicle of Chief Minister and other leaders in Kerala for a very long time. Toyota Innova Crysta was and is still doing the job of Hindustan Ambassador in many states. It is a popular choice among political leaders for its comfortable ride.