Amount collected will not be disclosed, will be explained to party supporters: KK Ragesh reponds after expulsion of V Kunhikrishnan

KANNUR: CPM Kannur District Secretary K.K. Ragesh said that there is no need to disclose the figures regarding the Payyannur Dhanraj Martyrs Fund. Ragesh said in a press conference that there is no need to disclose the figures to the media and that he will explain them to the party supporters. Ragesh's response was at the press conference announcing the expulsion of CPM Kannur District Committee member V. Kunhikrishnan, who had raised allegations in the fund embezzlement controversy. The district secretary admitted that a small part of the fund had been transferred and that it was found to be wrong and later corrected.

He said that Kunhikrishnan has become the helve of the party's enemies. "The agendas against the party are not accidental. The decision on the issues raised was taken in 2022 itself. Some issues were raised even after becoming a district committee member. Kunhikrishnan personally abused TI Madhusudhanan. It is not right to put the party on the defensive by raising wrong issues," added KK Ragesh.

The controversy was sparked by Kunhikrishnan's revelations that Payyannur MLA TI Madhusudhanan and others had embezzled Rs 46 lakh from the Dhanaraj Martyrs' Fund. Kunhikrishnan had said that he had to respond publicly because the party leadership had not taken action despite providing evidence several times. Kunhikrishnan had also alleged that the party had taken a stand to protect the accused, that the fraud came to light during an audit conducted when he was the Payyannur Area Committee Secretary, and that lakhs of rupees had been embezzled in the 2011 election accounts as well.

"The expulsion was expected. Even though I have been working within the party for fifty years, I cannot move forward as a communist without exposing the corruption that is going on within it. I said everything because things I believed should never happen within the Communist Party happened," Kunhikrishnan had said.