Thiruvananthapuram: When M. M. Hassan took over as KPCC president during March this year, the party had 'zero' in account balance. Post membership drive, the party is 'richer' by a paltry Rs 3 crore. In contrast, when V. M. Sudheeran was the PCC chief, he had amassed Rs 23 crore through his Janapaksha Yatra and by soliciting funds from within state and abroad.
During the local body elections held in October 2015, the then KPCC leadership had not earmarked any funds forcing the candidates to fend for themselves, as chief minister Oommen Chandy was facing the heat of Solar scam. But Sudheeran managed to garner funds worth Rs 23 crore which was an all time record.
However, towards the fag end of his term, he was lavish in providing funds to whoever came to him for help. A prominent KPCC general secretary who is close to Sudheeran told DC that he was on a spree donating money to the poor.
"Rs 23 crore worth funds were generated with the help of the hardcore party workers. Instead of utilizing those funds for the welfare of the party, it was provided to those people who were not attached to the Congress party", said the KPCC general secretary.
He was referring to the incident where local 'A' group leader in Chavakkad, Haneefa was killed by rival group within the party which saw Sudheeran donating Rs 75 lakh to the slain leaders' family who had rendered their support to the Left camp during the 2016 Assembly elections. During February, a month before Sudheeran stepped down, he had a hard time meeting the salary and expenses of the employees at Indira Bhavan.
"It was KPCC secretary and Sudheeran loyalist, B. A. Abdul Muthalib who came to his rescue by giving him Rs 5 lakh to meet the salary of 25 plus staff and other expenses at KPCC office where almost Rs 3 lakh was required", said a party MLA.
Though Sudheeran asked the then Thiruv-ananthapuram DCC president Karaku-lam Krishnapillai for a loan of Rs 25 lakh, it was turned down. Seeing the dwindling party funds, Ernakulam DCC came forward and gave a loan of Rs 25 lakh.
