Kochi: BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi on Monday undertook an 18-km ‘padayatra’ (foot march) along with hundreds of party workers in Thrissur district of Kerala to protest against alleged corruption and money laundering at the CPM-controlled Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank.
The actor-turned-politician paid floral tributes to the five people who died by suicide after losing their savings in the cooperative bank fraud. He met the families of the victims before beginning the ‘padayatra’ around 2pm Monday from the Karuvannur bank in Irinjalakuda. The protest march was inaugurated by BJP state president K Surendran.
“This agitation is not aimed at destroying cooperative societies or questioning their existence. These cooperative banks and institutions must function as long as they can return the ‘blood money’ of poor people. We will not allow them to be shut down. This yatra is aimed at strengthening the foundations of the cooperative structure,” said Gopi at the inauguration of the protest.
Gopi, who served as the Rajya Sabha MP between 2016 and 2022, insisted that the agitation was not political in nature and that it was being conducted from a ‘humane’ perspective to protect the cooperative sector in the state and savings of lakhs of poor people.
However, the agitation comes just weeks after BJP state chief K Surendran said in a Facebook post that Gopi would be repeated as the party’s nominee from Thrissur in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Though he had emerged third in the Thrissur constituency in the 2019 elections behind the UDF and LDF, Gopi’s popularity saw the BJP’s vote-share rise to 2.93 lakh votes from 1.02 lakh votes in 2014.
{{/usCountry}}However, the agitation comes just weeks after BJP state chief K Surendran said in a Facebook post that Gopi would be repeated as the party’s nominee from Thrissur in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Though he had emerged third in the Thrissur constituency in the 2019 elections behind the UDF and LDF, Gopi’s popularity saw the BJP’s vote-share rise to 2.93 lakh votes from 1.02 lakh votes in 2014.
{{/usCountry}}The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been probing charges of money laundering at the Karuvannur bank where benami loans were sanctioned allegedly to non-members of the CPM-controlled bank often by mortgaging the properties of poor members without their knowledge. The money to the tune of ₹150 crore has been swindled out of the bank, ED has said.
The central agency has made several arrests in the case including the accused Sathish Kumar, Kiran PP and CPM local councillor PR Aravindakshan. It has also questioned CPM MLA and former minister AC Moideen and MK Kannan, CPM leader and state vice-president of Kerala Bank.