Kerala polls: UDF counters LDF’s charges on Congress’ Wayanad rehab funds, promises audit post-project completion

The United Democratic Front (UDF) on Saturday sought to push back against the Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s gambit to put the Opposition in the dock over the whereabouts and utilisation of the funds collected by the Congress to build houses for the landslide-displaced families at Mundakkai and Chooralmala in Wayanad, Kerala.

The Leader of the Opposition, V D Satheesan, told reporters in Kasaragod that the party would present an accurate audit of the funds after the Congress fulfilled its promise to the people. He fended off questions on where the Congress had parked the sizeable funds, ostensibly collected using a mobile phone application. 

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had earlier stated that the funds were held as a joint bank account operated by KPCC president Sunny Joseph and Mr Satheesan. Recently, the CPI(M) had upped the ante in the dispute with the Congress over Wayanad rehabilitation, alleging that details of the so-called joint account were not included in the affidavits filed by the leaders for the Assembly elections, and threatening legal action. 

The dispute reemerged after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, K C Venugopal, told a television channel that the funds were parked in a private bank in Thiruvananthapuram.

When journalists asked the Opposition Leader whether Mr Venugopal’s statement was in variance with the party’s position regarding the location of the funds donated by the public, Mr Satheesan said: “The Congress is under no obligation to dwell on the matter publicly. Accounts are presented only after the project is completed”. 

Mr Satheesan sought to deflect LDF criticism regarding the “opaqueness” swirling around Congress’ Wayanad rehabilitation fund collection by challenging the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] to explain what action the party had taken against leaders who “siphoned off” funds collected in the name of the families of party martyrs. “In Payyanur (Kannur), Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram, CPI(M) threw out party workers who questioned the well-entrenched fraud, which has become a pattern in the CPI(M)”, he added. 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has repeatedly sought to highlight the controversy in his campaign speeches, challenging the AICC to reveal the whereabouts of the funds and their utilisation. Mr Vijayan has urged voters to decide on the course the next government should take regarding the alleged misappropriation, making the dispute an emotive poll issue, especially in north Kerala. He had also sought to make a big deal of the fact that the LDF government had handed over 178 houses to dispossessed families, and stated that construction of the rest was fast underway.

Recently, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) had set up huts in an area earmarked by the Congress for constructing its proposed township to spotlight the Opposition’s “unfulfilled promises”. 

PI(M) Wayanad District Secretary K. Rafeek, quoting an RTI reply, accused Congress of not even submitting an application at the local village office for constructing the promised township on the 3.5-acre property. Congress and CPI(M) had also battled over whether Kerala should include the cash donated by the Karnataka and Telangana governments for the rehabilitation under the Opposition’s account.