THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP national leadership has reportedly asked the state unit to initiate an internal organisational inquiry after allegations of large-scale misappropriation of election funds were raised against three office-bearers.
State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has ordered a detailed audit of the party’s accounts. According to party sources, “Only the tip of the iceberg has emerged so far.” Preliminary findings indicate that several more senior leaders are already under the party’s scanner. The allegations have come as a setback for the state BJP which won three seats in the recent assembly elections.
Preliminary scrutiny has revealed financial irregularities in the utilisation of election funds. The three leaders facing allegations include a state secretary, a state committee member and a zonal secretary. Allegations have also been raised against another state secretary and a youth leader holding a key position in a BJP-affiliated organisation.
It is alleged that funds were misappropriated during the disbursal of central election funds to various districts for campaign management.
“The national leadership transferred the funds to the State Election Management Committee. At the party headquarters, a State Election Management Committee office was constituted, with a state secretary entrusted with the task of disbursing the funds,” a senior BJP leader said.
However, after the elections, complaints began to emerge from several districts and candidates alleging that they had received inadequate funds. Although the leadership initially treated the matter as administrative negligence, the volume and nature of the complaints reportedly forced the national leadership to intervene.
“The state president immediately ordered a scrutiny of the accounts, and the process is still under way,” a BJP state office-bearer said.
There is also an allegation that though the national leadership supplied party flags to every state, some leaders in Kerala allegedly procured them from a private agency instead. It has now been alleged that large commissions were received in the process.
Party leaders, however, alleged that details of the ongoing internal scrutiny were leaked to the media in an attempt to derail the audit.
Rival factions within the party have also intensified their power struggle in an attempt to take advantage of the situation.
Meanwhile, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a statement, cautioned party workers against falling for fake news after a fabricated party circular surfaced claiming disciplinary action against certain leaders.
BJP leaders said the state president had also asked the leaders facing allegations to step aside from their organisational responsibilities pending completion of the audit. However, BJP state general secretary S Suresh told TNIE that no such instruction had been issued by Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
