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UDF targets LDF govt over graft, fund embezzlement
Allegations of fund misuse by CPI(M) in Kannur ahead of Kerala elections give Congress-led UDF a chance to attack the ruling Left, fueling political tensions.
Allegations of misuse and embezzlement of CPI(M) party funds raised for the family of a slain party member in its stronghold of Kannur district have given the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) political ammunition to target the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government ahead of the assembly elections in Kerala.
V Kunhikrishnan, a district committee member of the CPI(M) in Kannur, recently alleged that funds raised among party workers for the family of CPI(M) worker CV Dhanaraj, who was allegedly hacked to death by men reportedly affiliated to the BJP and RSS in 2016, were misused at the behest of party leader and Payyannur MLA TI Madhusudhoonan.
He had added that funds raised for the construction of the area committee office in Payyannur in 2016 and the assembly elections in 2021 were also embezzled with no proper accounting measures followed. He had claimed that counterfeit receipt books were printed to collect money from donors.
The CPI(M) expelled Kunhikrishnan from the party on Monday.CPI(M) district secretary KK Ragesh said the allegations raised by him “amounted to stabbing the party in the back”.
He added that the party had examined the complaint raised by Kunhikrishnan internally in 2022 and found it to be baseless.
However, the Congress-led UDF alleged that Kunhikrishnan’s claims pointed to rot and widespread corruption within the party unit in Payyannur in Kannur district, considered a near-impenetrable stronghold of the Left. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also hails from Kannur district.
On Tuesday, the UDF moved a request for an adjournment motion on the matter in the state assembly. However, the notice for the discussion was shot down by speaker AN Shamseer, who said that it did not merit the urgency required to suspend assembly proceedings for a detailed discussion.
This prompted the UDF MLAs to troop into the well of the House, hold placards and raise slogans against the CPI(M). Subsequently, the UDF MLAs staged a walkout from the Assembly.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly, VD Satheesan, alleged that the speaker decided to deny the discussion “under pressure from the government and the CPI(M) which is on the defensive.”
“During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, CPI(M) said whistleblowers would be protected. But here, in strange irony, CPI(M) has taken action against the whistleblower. At the same time, the CPI(M) has still not taken any action against its leaders arrested in the Sabarimala gold theft case. But in Payyannur, action was taken within 24 hours. CPI(M) stands exposed,” he told reporters.
He also alleged that the CPI(M) leadership allegedly deployed people to attack workers of opposition parties conducting rallies and protest marches to the office of the Payyannur MLA. “Even women were not spared from the attack,” he claimed.
Along with the Sabarimala gold theft case, in which three prominent Left leaders are currently behind bars, the Payyannur fund misuse has emerged as a hot-button issue for the CPI(M) which faces a stern test in the form of the Assembly elections.
In the recent local body polls, the LDF suffered a severe setback, losing a majority of panchayats, block panchayats, municipalities and corporations to the UDF.
