Kerala BJP leaders face corruption allegations

The politician’s journey from poverty to highest office Naidu has an edge in vice-presidential race

At a time when Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah is giving shape to a grand strategy for the party to gain ground in Kerala where it has a single MLA, corruption allegations have rocked the BJP’s state unit.

Some leaders of the BJP’s Kerala unit have been accused of taking bribes to facilitate federal sanction for a medical college in the state.

The matter also caused a ruckus in Parliament yesterday when Kerala Communist Party of India Marxist MP, M.B. Rajesh raised the allegations of BJP leaders having taken Rs56 million (Dh3.19 million) bribe for getting approval for a medical college in Palakkad.

Call for judicial probe

The Lok Sabha Speaker denied permission for an adjournment motion on the issue, which triggered protests from the Opposition MPs who demanded that the prime minister respond to the allegation. Congress MPs called for a judicial probe into the bribe allegation.

A social media post by BJP general secretary K. Surendran added to the party’s embarrassment. In the post, Surendran referred to some medical colleges having got the sanction by paying bribes adding that their action was “shocking”.