New Delhi, April 3 (IANS) Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha member from Kerala, P. Sandosh Kumar, on Friday, wrote to the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to take action against top Congress leaders, who are named in an FIR registered at the North Avenue Police Station in New Delhi.
Kumar in his letter said that the serious allegations of a cash for ticket scam involving individuals at the highest levels of the Congress leadership.
"These charges have been levelled by a former General Secretary of the Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress. Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, Congress Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha K Suresh, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's Personal Assistant (PA) Sahab Ahmad Khan, and K.C. Venugopal's PA Anas Ali have been named in connection with extracting huge sums of money on the promise of an Assembly ticket," he added.
He says that he is constrained to write this rather unpleasant letter in response to Rahul Gandhi's untruthful, baseless, and malicious campaign against the LDF in Keralam.
"You have levelled baseless, distasteful and unsubstantiated allegations against the LDF leadership and the Left parties in general. The Left, across the country, is recognised for its integrity and principled public life, and it would be far more appropriate for the Congress to introspect within its own ranks before casting aspersions on others," Kumar added.
The CPI leader also said that those named in the FIR are not peripheral figures but individuals widely understood to function within the inner circles of the Congress leadership and perceived to be personally close to Rahul Gandhi.
"Similar allegations of cash for tickets have also been raised by Congress workers in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Assam, indicating that this is not an isolated instance but reflective of a deeper and more systemic malaise."
"Further, there are serious and widespread apprehensions regarding the collection and utilisation of funds by the Congress in the aftermath of the Chooralmala Mundakkai landslides in Wayanad district of Keralam. Substantial amounts are reported to have been collected from the public and other sources in the name of relief and rehabilitation. However, there remains a concerning lack of transparency regarding the total funds collected, the banks where these funds were deposited, and the manner in which they have been utilised for the benefit of the affected victims."
"Given your (Rahul Gandhi's) direct association with Wayanad as its former Member of Parliament and the current representation of the constituency by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, it is incumbent upon you to place complete and verifiable details in the public domain to dispel these doubts. You must either take decisive action against those named in the FIR and ensure full transparency and accountability in the utilisation of funds collected for landslide victims, or abandon the claim of standing against corruption," Kumar said.
Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi through his election campaign has been criticising the LDF government for its corrupt practices and with state elections to be held on April 9, where the LDF government is facing "anti-incumbency" wave and pre-poll surveys all points to the Congress-led UDF government regaining power.
--IANS
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