Thiruvananthapuram : State Congress leadership is left red in the face over accusations of accepting illicit payments in lakhs for top jobs in KPCC. With news on kickbacks spilling, the High Command reportedly rejected the KPCC’s list for secretarial candidates .
The list comprised three General Secretary hopefuls and 84 nominees for secretary posts. A city-based businessman featured in the prospective names for General Secretary post after allegedly paying Rs 25 lakhs. A prominent Kollam native is also said to have paid up Rs 10 lakh for making his way into the list for Secretarial candidates..
KPCC President Mullappally Ramachandran had held extensive talks lasting four months before finalizing the list of 84 secretary nominees. He also nominated 3 individuals for the General Secretary post and others as Vice presidential candidates. KPCC currently has 12 Vice Presidents and 34 General Secretaries.
Interestingly, Mullappally had predicted complaints to emerge almost immediately after forwarding the list to Delhi. According to sources, Mullappally’s confidant, Vice President Sharanad Rajashekaran, acted as middleman in the bribe transactions. Posters were pasted at various places around the capital. Incidentally, the opposition accuses KPCC President of being remote controlled by certain quarters.
Earlier, following staunch criticism from A and I groups , Mullappally had within hours withdrawn the circular that fixed functions for the General Secretary. And though KPCC Political Affairs Committee met again last week, the fiercely disputed topics including responsibilities of office bearers, were left out of discussions. There was criticism earlier over sidelining the Political Affairs Committee decision that no officer bearer shall be appointed from outside the KPCC membership. Several members including K Muralidharan openly hit out against the appointment of BJP election candidate Mohan Shankar as Vice President. Even people who contested elections on Lotus ticket are now among the KPCC office bearers, he had said.
