The rapidly metastasising Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into the money laundering aspect of the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank scam will have a bearing on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], the Congress, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), especially in the Thrissur parliamentary constituency, and perhaps wider, as the Lok Sabha election season draws nearer by the day.
The Central investigation has cast many CPI(M) leaders in Thrissur under a harsh and unflattering spotlight. For one, the BJP has scented an advantage for Suresh Gopi, its star campaigner and prospective candidate in Thrissur, in CPI(M)‘s “discomfiture”. Mr. Gopi had increased the party’s vote share by 17.5% in Thrissur in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He bagged 28.2% of the total votes polled.
Suresh Gopi’s march
The BJP has now moved to press home the perceived advantage in Thrissur. It has deployed Mr. Gopi to lead a protest march to the CPI(M)-controlled Karuvannur bank on Monday. CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan responded that the BJP had orchestrated the ED probe to cure Thrissur’s parliamentary electoral pitch for Mr. Gopi. He accused the BJP of subverting the ED to lock up CPI(M) leaders in Thrissur on false charges ahead of the LS polls.
BJP State president K. Surendran rebutted Mr. Govindan, saying that corruption surrounding the State’s cooperative sector was bigger than an impending election. Mr. Surendran said the CPI(M) and the Congress were partners in the cooperative sector ‘crime’ in Kerala. Both parties had opposed the Centre’s move to bring cooperative society banks under the RBI regime. Mr. Surendran said both parties had rejected the Centre’s move to implement uniform financial management software in the cooperative sector. CPI(M) and Congress-ruled cooperative bank managements had refused to implement the Know Your Customer (KYC) to facilitate money-laundering operations and benami transactions.
Concern for Cong.?
The Congress, which has stridently attacked CPI(M) over the Karuvannur bank scam, is facing a potential political headache in an emerging cooperative society scam allegedly involving the party’s leadership in Thiruvananthapuram. It fears a possible investigation into the suspected financial malfeasance can blow up in the Opposition’s face.
