THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the medical college scam rocked the state BJP leadership, state president Kummanam Rajasekharan expelled Mr R. S. Vinod, BJP cooperative cell convener, from the party on Thursday. It is learnt that the positions of Mr Kummanam Rajasekharan and general secretary M. T. Ramesh are also shaky as the central leadership has taken a serious view of the matter. It may be recalled that Mr Vinod is involved in the controversy over the Varkala S. R. Medical College and Research Centre and Ramesh in the Kerala Medical College at Cherpulassery, Palakkad.
Mr Kummanam said in the expulsion letter that the allegations against Mr Vinod were serious. The controversy has tainted the image of the party and Vinod has committed an “unpardonable mistake” and taken an “anti-party stand,” he said. He also asked the central leadership to probe the scam. Earlier, Mr Vinod had acted as a power-broker and was suspended from the party for vote trading in 2005. Mr Kummanam, who is indisposed, had said in a press release earlier that the scam was a media creation based on rumours. But within hours, he had to expel Mr Vinod due to the intervention by the central leadership to save face.
The state committee office-bearers’ meeting will be held at Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, which is likely to be followed by a core committee meeting. The BJP leadership is in panic over the leak of the inquiry committee report submitted by a two-member committee comprising general secretary K. P. Sreesan and state secretary A. K. Nazeer about the bribery charges. The party leaders may face the wrath of national president Amit Shah who has been trying to make inroads into the state politics by strengthening the party. The state leadership has failed to meet the expectations of Mr Amit Shah and the medical college scam is sure to widen the gap between the central and state leaderships.
The central leaders were surprised when the Opposition raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Mr Amit Shah is likely to bring in Ram Madhav, national general secretary to tackle the facionalism . The central leadership is surprised by the involvement of a few leaders in the scam when Mr Shah had warned them to act better. “The scam is the tip of the iceberg as there are more senior leaders involved in other bribery charges. I will raise the scam in Saturday’s meeting as senior leaders were in the dark about such a fact-finding commission,” said a former state president.
