Kerala BJP election fund scam: Top leaders to face axe over flag and luxury rental fraud

Thiruvananthapuram: A massive organisational shake-up is reportedly brewing within the Kerala unit of the BJP following severe allegations of financial irregularities tied to Assembly election funds.

Acting on directives from the central leadership, state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has initiated disciplinary proceedings against key party office-bearers implicated in the corruption scandal.

The flag fraud: ₹54 lakh siphoned off

The primary nexus of the corruption centers around a ₹3.5 crore contract allocated to manufacture 10 million party flags for the election campaign. Capitalising on a delay in receiving official campaign flags from the central leadership, certain state leaders allegedly floated a makeshift private company to secure the contract for themselves.

The party treasurer subsequently received intelligence that a state secretary and a Yuva Morcha leader pocketed ₹54 lakh in commissions through this insider deal. Adding to the embarrassment, the official campaign flags later sent by the central leadership now lie abandoned in bundles inside the party office.

Over ₹1 crore plundered in helicopter and rental car scams

The internal investigation has also unearthed massive discrepancies in campaign logistics, specifically regarding helicopter and vehicle rentals.

• Chopper mismanagement: A contract was signed to charter three helicopters for 136 flight hours; however, they were utilised for just 42 hours, leaving lakhs unaccounted for.
• Ghost cars: Out of 200 cars rented for election duties, less than half were actually deployed. Internal complaints allege that trip sheets were systematically forged to siphon off nearly ₹1 crore.
• Digital spend: Serious grievances have also been raised internally regarding the opaque expenditure of crores of rupees allocated for social media advertising.

Impending purge in leadership

The party leadership has decided to strip the accused state secretary, a regional secretary and a state committee member of their current responsibilities. They will be entirely excluded from official positions in the upcoming organisational reshuffle. Furthermore, another state secretary is set to lose his post over an unresolved controversy involving a defaulted loan taken from the Thiruvithamkoor Cooperative Society. As these scandals hit the public domain, internal resentment is brewing against those attempting to shield the corrupt leaders.

While BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar maintains that disciplinary action is an internal party affair that does not concern the media or the public, the unfolding crisis poses a severe challenge.

Having taken charge to put an end to factionalism, the president now faces the uphill task of tackling corruption under his watch. He has reportedly informed core committee members directly about his decision to remove the tainted leaders from their responsibilities.