Thiruvananthapuram: An allegation that some leaders in the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had taken bribes to facilitate sanctions for a medical college in the state has continued to rock the state unit of the party.
On Saturday, senior leaders of the BJP’s Kerala unit held a core committee meeting to discuss the matter, which has rocked the party and led to the suspension of a leader.
The allegation is that Rs56 million changed hands for getting sanctions of federal authorities for a medical college near Palakkad.
Meanwhile, the state government also got into the act, and the vigilance department sent notices to BJP leaders K.P. Sreesan and A.K. Nazeer in connection with the corruption allegation. The two have been asked to appear before vigilance officials on Monday to give their statements.
The enforcement directorate has also initiated investigation into the alleged payment of such a large sum of money, on the suspicion that the money may have been transferred through the hawala route.
At the core committee meeting, BJP state general secretary M.T. Ramesh reportedly alleged that he was being selectively targeted, adding that he suspected a conspiracy behind it.
The BJP national leadership is also closely watching the developments in connection with the corruption allegation against its state leaders. Two leaders — B.L. Santosh and H. Raja — participated in the core committee meeting on Saturday as representatives of the national leadership.
At the core committee meeting, BJP state president Kummanan Rajasekharan also faced flak for not keeping senior leaders informed of the party’s decision to hold an internal inquiry into the corruption allegation. Many leaders in the party feel that it was from those connected with the inquiry committee that the findings of the committee leaked to the media.
Political observers say that it is likely that the BJP national president Amit Shah will summon senior leaders including Kummanam Rajasekharan and M.T. Ramesh to Delhi in connection with the medical scam.