NEW DELHI: CPI’s Rajya Sabha MP P Sandosh Kumar wrote to Rahul Gandhi on Friday, alleging a “cash-for-ticket” scandal involving top Congress functionaries and seeking transparency over funds collected by the party for landslide relief in Kerala.
Referring to an FIR lodged at Delhi’s North Avenue police station, the Communist Party of India (CPI) leader claimed that individuals “at the highest levels of the Congress leadership” have been accused of collecting money in exchange for Assembly poll tickets.
He named Congress leaders, including K C Venugopal and K Suresh, along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s personal assistant Sahab Ahmad Khan and Venugopal’s PA Anas Ali, in connection with the alleged scam. “These are not peripheral figures but individuals widely understood to function within the inner circles of Congress leadership and perceived to be personally close to you,” he said.
In his letter, Kumar said similar allegations had surfaced from Congress workers in states, such as UP, Bihar and Assam, suggesting a “systemic malaise” rather than an isolated case. The CPI leader also raised concerns over the collection and utilisation of funds following the Chooralmala-Mundakkai landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad, alleging a lack of transparency regarding the total amount collected and its distribution.
He urged Gandhi to make “complete and verifiable details” public, given his past representation of Wayanad in the Lok Sabha and the constituency’s current representation in the Lower House of Parliament by Priyanka Gandhi.
“You must either take decisive action against those named in the FIR and ensure full transparency and accountability in the utilisation of funds collected for landslide victims, or abandon the claim of standing against corruption,” he said.