There is an element of truth in what the Congress leaders say. For the CPM, the Punarjani issue is emerging as an election staple. Almost a year after the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) informed the state government that it was closing the probe against Satheesan because it didn't fall within its ambit, the issue has again come to light. 

Vigilance sources said that, as per the communication to the government, the project was carried out using foreign funds, and any probe ought to be conducted by designated agencies like the CBI. The VACB officials further said that the project did not involve public funds or public servants and it was done by a foundation. Sources confirmed that the communication was sent in 2025.

The issue was raised on the eve of the 2021 Assembly elections as well. The Congress leader launched the housing initiative to rehabilitate people who lost their homes in the 2018 floods in his North Paravur constituency.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself had insinuated in the Assembly in January 2021 that Satheesan's initiative to construct homes for the victims of the 2018 floods in his constituency was shady. Then, Satheesan was a middle-bencher but the Opposition's most fiery speaker. Curiously, the attack led by the Chief Minister was unleashed after the VACB had first considered and promptly dropped the issue in 2020; the second VACB probe began in 2023.

The merciless attack on the most promising leader in the UDF side in 2021 was then seen as a CPM ploy to neutralise the charges of corruption in the Wadakanchery Life Mission Project. There was also a hint of desperation in the CPM's tactic to persist with the Punarjani issue. For, at that point, even Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan had refused to entertain the VACB's request to initiate a probe against Satheesan. The Speaker had asked for more information, a clear message that the VACB had not been able to gather anything to nail Satheesan.

Before the VACB was virtually spurned by the Speaker, the single and division benches of the High Court had also dismissed the case against Satheesan, and that too right at the admission stage.  

Still, the CPM persisted. Without even seeking permission from the Speaker, as is mandatory while levelling a corruption charge against a member on the floor of the House, the CPM's Kalliassery MLA T V Rajesh sought to put Satheesan in the dock.

Rajesh said that Satheeshan had sought 500 pounds from non-resident Keralites in Birmingham, Britain. He even said there was visual proof of this. The Congress leader did not deny his UK visit but said he had not asked for a specific amount and expressed his readiness to apologise if he was found to have done so. The visual proof that Rajesh had claimed he possessed was not heard of thereafter. 

Rajesh also wanted to know into which account donor contributions were deposited, how the funds were spent, who coordinated relief work using foreign contributions, and how the beneficiary list was compiled.

Satheesan, though he was peeved that the charges were hurled without intimation, was eager to clear the air. First of all, he said there was no account for the Punarjani Project. He said donors built houses directly, and when they could not, the funds were transferred in instalments to local contractors identified for the project.

He said the beneficiary list was prepared after a survey conducted by the students and teachers of a management institute in his constituency, Paravur.

The VACB's conclusions, top sources said, tallied with Satheesan's clarifications.

Responding to the news, Satheesan welcomed the CBI probe against him and declared that he would face it. “I think this is false news, because the case will not stand legally. If any action is taken against me, I will also take legal action. Let the CBI probe the charges against me,” he said.

Addressing the media in Wayanad on Sunday, Satheeshan added that Vigilance had earlier closed the case after finding that the charges would not stand the legal scrutiny. He arrived in Wayanad to attend a two-day camp of Congress top leaders. 

“This is only a political stunt ahead of the Assembly elections. Anyone with common sense can understand this. If Vigilance had any evidence of FCRA violations against me, let the CBI investigate. I do not need any favour as Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly. I will face the case personally,” Satheesan said.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and Shafi Parambil  called it an “election stunt.”