Congress to raise Rs 7 Cr for K Karunakaran Memorial; office-bearers to pay Rs 2000 each

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress has decided to speed up the construction of K Karunakaran's memorial against the backdrop of his daughter Padmaja Venugopal, who left the party to join the BJP recently, flaying it for not building a Karunakaran memorial yet. 

All leaders were directed to contribute Rs 2,000 each to raise funds for the construction. With Rs 50 Lakh each from every district, a total of Rs 7 Crore should be paid for the Karunakaran Foundation by July 30, it was directed.

The directions were given following a party meeting presided over by KPCC president K Sudhakaran. It was also decided to ask the party workers for their contribution to complete the construction as soon as possible. 

Meanwhile, Padmaja Venugopal was removed from the administration of the foundation, and K Muraleedharan MP appointed as its working chairman. It has been proposed to accept donations from booth, ward, constituency, block office-bearers, sub-organizational office-bearers up to the block level, members of service organizations, members of pensioners' organizations and party supporters.

KPCC members, DCC office bearers and leaders of frontal organisations have also to pay Rs.2,000 each.

MPs, MLAs, presidents, vice-presidents and standing committee chairpersons of local bodies should pay their one month salary/honorarium for the memorial construction. Block presidents and DCC presidents are entrusted with collecting it and handing it over to the foundation. The members of the administration committees of all cooperative institutions have to pay one month's sitting fee for the same.