Kannur (Kerala), April 4 KPCC chief Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the Congress received around Rs 5.38 crore in its account for rehabilitation in Wayanad and used the funds to purchase land for constructing homes for landslide victims, a claim that has been termed as false by the ruling CPI(M).
Joseph said that in addition to the funds received in the account operated jointly by him and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, the Youth Congress collected around Rs 1.05 crore for rehabilitation efforts.
"The amounts collected were used to buy land in Wayanad in two phases for building homes for those who lost their properties in the July 2024 landslides, which claimed over 200 lives," the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief said in a press conference here.
The accounts disclosed by the KPCC chief were termed as false by CPI(M) leader M Swaraj who said that the Congress sees and uses natural disasters as opportunities to make money.
Swaraj said that after the 2018 floods, the Congress promised to build 1,000 houses and collected crores of rupees for that, but not a single home was built by them.
"They repeated the same in Wayanad. When criticism began coming from various quarters, they purchased a three acre piece of land which is uninhabitable. How are they going to build 230 houses in three acres," he asked at another press conference.
He was referring to the 100 houses each promised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the party and the 30 pledged by the Youth Congress.
Swaraj also said that the amount that Congress claims to have received in the joint account of Joseph and Satheesan was also false.
The CPI(M) leader said that in matters of making promises and collecting funds, Congress always betrays the trust of the people.
Earlier, Joseph said that in the first phase, land measuring 3 acres and 24.5 cents was purchased for around Rs 3.68 crore. In the second phase, 2 acres and 15 cents were acquired for slightly over Rs 2.5 crore, he said.
As the collected funds proved insufficient, an additional Rs 97 lakh was spent from the KPCC's own account.
Joseph added that another Rs 73 lakh is required for registration and other formalities related to the second land purchase.
All transactions were carried out through bank accounts, he noted.
"The Congress had to purchase land on its own as the state government did not allot any site for the construction of houses," Joseph said.
The disclosure comes amid repeated queries from the Left Front regarding the amount Congress collected for Wayanad rehabilitation and its utilisation.
Joseph alleged that the Left staged marches to the offices of Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi and MLA T Siddique "to create a smokescreen of suspicion" against the Congress and the party led bloc, the UDF.
He further said the party has already spent more than it collected on land purchases, and the homes will be built using funds from the KPCC and AICC.
"There will be no further fund collection for this project," he added.
Separately, Joseph said the Congress has sought intervention from the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Kerala to ensure free and fair polls in Kannur.
He alleged that district administration and election officials were favouring the CPI(M).