Even when crores flow to Kerala, BJP’s candidates didn’t get enough money; letter sent to Centre says funds used for investments in other states

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When the latest news and information suggest that BJP had made plans to ensure the supply of crores worth illegal black money during the assembly polls, the reality is that most of the candidates faced a severe shortage of money to meet the campaign expenses. Compared to UDF and LDF, the campaigning of BJP candidates were only for
namesake.

Except for Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thrissur and Kasargod, the saffron party candidates of other constituencies had not received proper funds. Sources in BJP also says that except the A class constituencies like Chattanoor, Kollam and Kottarakara campaign was not powerful in other areas. Whereas on one side extravaganza was witnessed in the form of helicopter trips, on the other serious financial problems occurred.

Keralakaumudi flash has received the information that various candidates and other leaders of the party have complained to the central leadership to scrutinise the utilisation of the party’s finance during the polls. They had approached the central leadership after reports surfaced which said that middleman have siphoned off the money transported by the party to Kerala for election expense. The central party secretary Prabhari C P Radhakrishnan who has the charge of Kerala had received several complaints which had pieces of evidence attached with them.

Most of the candidates were fielded on the assurance that the party would bear the cost of the campaign. In some constituencies, the party's money was transferred directly to candidates, while in others it was paid to election committees. It is also alleged that when money was paid directly to candidates from the Muraleedharan group, for others the money was given to election committees concerned. BJP sources also say that the main office-bearer of such poll committees will be someone from the official group in the party.

Senior leaders like P K Krishanadas, M T Ramesh, A N Radhakrishnan and C K Padmanabhan hold the view that there should be clarity on how much money came to Kerala for elections from official and unofficial channels, and how it was spent. They also think that K Surendran will not be able to save the party from the current allegations, but they are also not adopting the hard line of demanding Surendran’s resignation. At the same time, they are not leaving any stone unturned to compel Surendran to resign from the party chief’s post.