Dubai: Lulu Group has denied reports that chairman and managing director M A Yusuffali was ready to contribute Rs 700 crore to Kerala’s flood relief fund if the central government opposed an equal offer from the United Arab Emirates. The group’s communication department said it was mulling legal action against the people who spread the fake news on online media and social media.

The UAE’s offer was conveyed to Kerala not by the Union government, but by Ali. Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince and the deputy supreme commander of the UAE’s armed forces, told Ali that he had informed prime minister Narendra Modi about the offer.



The expatriate businessman passed on the information to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who announced the offer during his daily press briefing.



Modi, however, likely rejected the offer, citing a 14-year-old decision not to offer aid from foreign governments. The central government is yet to confirm the report but former bureaucrats have argued that the government was free to accept foreign aid for reconstruction.



Adding to the confusion was an unconfirmed report that claimed Ali was willing to shoulder the burden.

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