Politics is the art of possibilities. The corridors of power lure in unscrupulous elements for the endless possibilities to mint money.
One of the spectacular frauds in politics was performed by a woman who briefly acted as the head of media affairs of the BJP in a Kerala district. Party cadres were surprised to see the sudden emergence of a leader but her ability to handle English and Hindi with ease ensured that her position remained unchallenged.
She had cases pending against her in connection with a scam related to admissions to an engineering college in Secunderabad and for duping a public sector bank into lending huge sums of money. She utilized her position with the BJP to convince gullible targets.
Her business card proclaimed her as the director of the Hindustan Samachar Trust, an affiliate of the party. She organized a program in Kerala on behalf of the trust and even got union minister Nirmala Seetharaman to attend it.
The leader was in New Delhi as a director of the trust when her guise was blown unexpectedly. She met the BJP’s intellectual cell chief with another leader from Kerala. She had elaborate plans.
The ideologue, however, called up the Kerala unit of the party with a strange peeve.
He wanted to know if the party wants him out as the director of the Hindustan Samachar Trust. He happened to be the real chief of the trust!
The woman leader had a similar embarrassing moment in Bhopal. She was waiting at the Madhya Pradesh chief minister’s office to get approval for a project to honor poet Kalidasa on behalf of a trust she had formed. She did not know that a few RSS leaders from Kerala were also visiting the chief minister. The office secretary blew her cover by introducing her to the leaders from Kerala.
None of these setbacks meant the end of her career. She is at the helm of a handicraft development corporation in another state.
A lending hand
A young leader from the Malabar region had phenomenal growth in politics. He was neck-deep in debt when he was picked by a marginal faction of a political party. The group wanted him as a mole in the district committee of the party.
He entrenched himself in the party office and slowly went up the rungs. He made himself so indispensable to the party leadership that he was chosen as the party’s candidate in an assembly election. He had paid off all his debt by then.
He has made a fortune in politics. His revenue streams are mysterious. He runs businesses abroad in the name of trusted loyalists and operates a network of real estate agents in Kerala.
Part of his success strategy is in his ability to be invisible. He steers away from controversies. He hardly takes a stand on disputes or offends an opponent. His transactions are secretive yet everyone knows him as the go-to person to get approvals for organizations or get a contract signed for a company.
Election as donation
When Satheesh Kuttiyil was chosen as the BDJS candidate in the assembly election in Kozhikode South constituency last year, a section of BJP leaders were not amused. They alleged that their ally had “sold” the seat to Kuttiyil.
The candidate had a tough time campaigning. After the election was over, he lashed out at the BJP leaders for working against him. He said a BJP leader in the district had received Rs 15 lakh from a rival candidate to divert the BJP votes. He also said that the BJP had led a concerted effort to cross vote in the election and a prominent leader did not even bother to vote.
Kuttiyil said he could produce witnesses to substantiate his allegations but the BJP leadership did not want to probe the underbelly.
Kuttiyil lagged even in the corporation wards where BJP candidates had won the previous year but there was no explanation. The candidate’s request for an audit for the money collected during the campaign but the workers looked elsewhere.
Legal quotation
A leading contractor in Kannur was awaiting payment of Rs 10 crore. He was taken for a ride when those who owed him money sought the help of an advocate to avoid paying him.
The advocate sent a legal notice to the contractor and followed it up with a visit from helpful cops. The contractor stood his ground and insisted that he was the one to get paid.
The advocate then called up the contractor and offered to settle the “dispute” for Rs 2 crore. The contractor was shocked to hear the demand to shell out Rs 2 crore to ensue that was paid the Rs 10 crore he deserved. But he had to submit with the ruling party involved. He paid Rs 1.5 crore as part of a compromise.
A police station in Kannur district will not encourage complaints related to cash transactions above Rs 10 lakh. They would forward the complainants to an advocate’s office, where a racket including a former superintendent of police and a former deputy superintendent of police makes itself ready to mediate in disputes, for a price.
Deal or no deal?
No major real estate deal in central Kerala happen without the knowledge and involvement of a senior BJP leader. BJP units from Moothakunnam to Cherthala have been told to tip off the state-level leader of any property deal in their area.
The leader is constantly accompanied by two aides who does not have any responsibilities with the party. He nurtures his loyal aides in the party and the local leaders who have an eye to spot an opportunity to make money.
Another BJP leader in Kochi specializes in acing as a meeting point between businessmen and ministers. He even has a racket of lieutenants to act as brokers in all ministerial offices in Delhi.
The perks of the business include free air tickets to Delhi and stay in luxury hotels apart from generous contributions to the “party fund”.
What got the minister’s goat?
The leader invited the wrath of railway minister Suresh Prabhu on a visit to Kochi. The leader and gang received the minister at the international airport and took him to a resort on the suburbs. He had invited his “client” to the resort to meet up with the minister and have tea with him.
Meanwhile, BJP’s district president and other leaders had been waiting for the minister at a hotel room in the city. After waiting for the minister for long, they asked around. They were told that the minister was with the state-level leader at a resort. They rushed in to claim the minister.
Prabhu was shocked to learn that he had been taken for a ride. He was told that he was not taken to a predetermined place. The state-level leader had to plead with the minister not to complain about him in the party.
The Padma tales
When an expatriate industrialist was honored with a Padmasri, a Thrissur-based businessman was ruing his decision to lobby for the honor. He had been toiling for a Padma award with an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore.
The Gulf-based businessman had it comparatively easy. He just latched on to a leader from the North-East who wanted to relish the famed Thrissoor Pooram festival. The businessman took it on himself the duty to host and treat the leader.
He followed up the charitable act by sponsoring various development activities in a few backward colonies in the North-East.
Predictably, his name featured in the list of Padma award nominees from the North-East. He had even changed his name slightly to make it less “Malayali” and more natural in a list from a North-East state.
The word got out. As the list was leaked, the matter came up before the court. However, the industrialist walked away with a Padmasri award even before the court pronounced its verdict.
(Reported by Jiji Paul, Anil Kurudath, Jayachandran Ilankath, R Krishna Raj, V R Prathap, Mintu P Jacob, A S Ullas and T B Lal)