The PSC-membership-for-cash controversy that dogged the CPI(M) and government since last week appeared to take a bizarre turn on Sunday.
The person who allegedly bribed K.V. Pramod, a CPI(M) Kozhikode Town Area Committee member, for the purported PSC posting made a surprising statement to news channels, denying any such transaction.
He denied having any contact with Mr. Pramod, who was expelled from the CPI(M) on Saturday for allegedly bringing disrepute to the party.
Mr. Pramod has protested his innocence and staged a dramatic protest with his mother in front of the person’s house on Saturday for “dragging” his name into the controversy.
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan told the media in Ernakulam that the CPI(M) had struck a detente with the “doctor” who allegedly paid a bribe for the top PSC post.
He alleged that the CPI(M) had repaid the ₹22 lakh a party apparatchik had accepted as an advance from the “doctor” to hush up the scandal.
He accused the Home Department of having sat on the doctor’s complaint that a party leader had defrauded him of the money.
Mr Satheesan said the attempt to sell a constitutional post requiring the cabinet’s clearance and the Governor’s sanction to the highest bidder smacked off high-level political corruption and warranted an investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Nevertheless, Mr Satheesan said, the CPI(M) scapegoated a local leader to save face and insulate its top leadership from legal jeopardy.
He said the expelled CPI(M) worker was not an anonymous scammer with a fictitious identity who preyed on unsuspecting persons remotely.
He said the expelled person regularly rubbed shoulders with the powers that be and drew credibility from intimate and personal access to authority. Similar accusations had surfaced against NCP and JD(S), both key LDF allies. The government should investigate the bribery scandal. Instead, it has treated the matter as the CPI(M) ‘s organisational issue.
BJP State president K Surendran told reporters in Kozhikode that his party would petition Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the court for a central investigation into the “big-ticket” corruption. He accused the government of sacrificing the PSC’s trustworthiness on the altar of greed. The CPI(M) has betrayed lakhs of youth who invest time and treasure preparing for PSC examinations.
