By Anil Kumar
Copyright thehindu
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Monday sought to politically implicate the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State leadership in the death by suspected suicide of the party’s Thirumala ward councillor, K. Anil Kumar, by demanding a police investigation.
CPI(M) district secretary V. Joy alleged that the BJP-controlled cooperative society headed by Mr. Anil Kumar, Valiyasala Farm Tour Society, incurred massive debt, an estimated ₹6 crore, after borrowers, most of them BJP leaders, dodged loan repayment.
Mr. Joy said Mr. Anil Kumar’s entreaties for political and financial support from the BJP State leadership, including Rajiv Chandrasekhar, to reassure depositors clamouring for their money fell on deaf ears.
“Mr. Chandrasekhar has himself admitted on social media that Mr. Anil Kumar had called on him two days before the latter’s tragic suicide,” he stated.
Mr. Joy accused the BJP leadership of attempting to fend off the wrath of its rank-and-file by falsely blaming the police and government for Anil Kumar’s death.
‘BJP’s face’
Mr. Joy said Mr. Anil Kumar was the BJP’s face in Thiruvananthapuram for decades.
“Mr. Anil Kumar’s feeling of being forsaken by his party in a time of profound personal crisis, apparently not of his making, is painfully evident in his suicide note, itemised as crime scene evidence by the police. The councillor also signalled his isolation in the BJP by setting aside ₹10,000 in a sealed envelope to pay for his funeral,” Mr. Joy said.
Mr. Joy said Anil Kumar’s wife had expressed the family’s deep disenchantment with the BJP leadership when Mr. Chandrasekhar and the party’s district president, Karamana Jayan, called on her on Sunday.
Mr. Joy said, consequently, the leaders did not attend Anil Kumar’s funeral, despite the councillor’s long innings in BJP politics. Mr. Joy noted that Anil Kumar was in line to be the BJP’s urban district president when the party “surprisingly chose” Mr Jayan.
He said Anil Kumar’s death had widened the fissures in the “faction-riven” BJP. “BJP leader V. Muraleedharan, who seemingly has an axe to grind with Mr. Chandrasekhar, has demanded a police investigation. The CPI(M) backs his demand,” he said.
Meanwhile, the vigilance wing of the State Cooperation Department has initiated an enquiry into the alleged financial irregularities in the society. Mr. Joy demanded that the government bring at least eleven BJP-run cooperative societies accused of swindling hundreds of depositors of their life savings. Meanwhile, the BJP has denied any association with the society and termed it Anil Kumar’s personal enterprise.
