Kerala BJP faces allegations of siphoning election funds

BJP’s Kerala unit is facing allegations of siphoning off election funds. Many committees of the BJP for the past two weeks have filed petitions to the BJP State President to conduct a probe against general secretary S Suresh and secretary MP Anjana, who was in charge of the Assembly election management. According to many party leaders, the fund siphoning has crossed more than Rs 12 crores, which was meant to distribute to the campaign of candidates of BJP.

The allegations started pouring soon from party insiders, after the election was over, seeing the change of lifestyle of Suresh and Anjana. Major allegations were selling party flags to candidates and district units, which were delivered free of cost from BJP’s central unit. The complaints filed by many party leaders say that the party flags were sold for more than Rs 3 crore.

Media report that the BJP State unit has conducted an internal audit and found the allegations were true and is expected to submit the report to State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday. BJP leaders in the state unit in charge of the campaign are also facing allegations of siphoning off funds meant for media advertisements and social media campaign.

The complaints show that Anajana had deposited a lot of money in four banks to close her personal loans, soon after the elections. Anjana was also facing allegations for taking loans from party-controlled cooperative banks and non-payment of it. Recently, the president of a co-operative bank controlled by the BJP had committed suicide due to non-payment of huge loans by party colleagues.  She purchased an expensive car, said the complaints filed to the state president and central leadership, seeking a probe against Anjana and Suresh.

Audio recordings had earlier emerged on the siphoning of party funds, meant for the road show of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the election campaign.  Many BJP leaders allege that general secretary Suresh is the real culprit, using Anjana as a cover. They point out that Suresh was from a poor family and is now living a luxurious lifestyle, having huge assets. The same is the case with his aide Anjana, who recently got plum posts in the party.

One recording reportedly contains a representative of a company that supplied party flags, confirming that the state secretary Anjana received a commission of Rs 31 lakh for the purchase of flags. Another audio recording obtained by local media allegedly features a state committee member discussing how Rs 16 lakh could be siphoned off by creating a fake bill. The complaints say that fake GST bills were also created, and a lot of fake bills were created for the use of helicopters and cars during the election campaign. Siphoning of funds happened across Kerala, especially in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kozhikode and Thrissur districts, say the complaints.