Heist On Saffron Highway

The Kerala BJP chief gets embroiled in a messy welter of hawala and bribery allegations. Rival factions are gleeful, the central command rather miffed. “Bad optics,” say experts.

Preetha Nair

Updated on: 25 June 2021 1:21 pm

Heist On Saffron Highway

These days, there is a joke circulating on social media that the BJP is facing Lord -Ayyappa’s wrath for dragging the Sabarimala issue into assembly election campaigns, in which the party came a cropper. The BJP indeed seems to be in serious trouble as its Kerala president K. Surendran is embroiled in allegations of bribery and hawala transactions, also deepening the factional feud that has been haunting the state unit. The rumblings in the party have come out in the open many times after its defeat in the polls. The corruption charges have embarrassed its central leadership, which has also waded into the issue.

It all started after a case of robbery was reported on Kodakara highway near Thrissur on April 3, three days ahead of the assembly polls. Investigations revealed that the looted money, amounting to Rs 3.5 crore, belonged to an RSS member. Surendran was caught in the eye of a storm after the special investigation team questioned his aide and driver. The investigation team’s revelation that the money might be meant for hawala transactions has put the party leadership on the defensive.

However, Surendran found himself in more trouble after being accused of bribing a BSP candidate to withdraw his nomination from the assembly constituency where the BJP state president contested. There are also allegations that Surendran bribed Adivasi leader C.K. Janu to return to the BJP-led NDA. The BJP’s state leaders deny all allegations, but it’s a godsend for the LDF government to attack the party that had unleashed a campaign against the CPI(M) during the elections on alleged corruption.

The crisis in the BJP state unit is further escalated by rivalry between the RSS and the party camps. The clamour for removing Surendran from the president’s post had intensified after the poll debacle, and his baiters are buoyed by the recent developments.

An RSS leader says the incident has sullied the party’s image, and that there is a strong backlash against Surendran and V. Muraleedharan, Union MoS for external affairs. The leader also claims the robbery became publicly known due to infighting in the BJP. “A rival group, which knew about the money being transported from Karnataka, orchestrated the loot,” says the leader.

BJP state general secretary M.T. Ramesh, however, dismisses the allegations as concocted stories and says the party will challenge them in court. “There is no concrete evidence. Those arrested have no links with the BJP. They are workers of parties like the CPI(M) and the IUML,” says Ramesh.

The central leadership, though, is miffed with the state unit and has formed a panel of three former bureaucrats, including Metro Man E. Sreedharan, to look into the cases. Sources add that change at the helm could be imminent. Political scientist J. Prabhash says the allegations are bad optics and will alienate the party more from its supporters. “The bribery episode has created a bad perception. The party cannot deny the allegations as it spent a lot of money during -campaigning. Surendran was using helicopters. Now who are they -fooling?” asks Prabhash. “What BJP needs is a good team that can build the party from scratch.”