Vigilance Case: Will quit politics if charges proved, says Cong Kerala Chief

Kerala Congress president K Sudhakaran welcomed the vigilance probe initiated on the complaint filed by his former driver Prasanth Babu. He said he will quit public life if an iota of truth is found in the complaint.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran on Monday asked the LDF government to ensure that mandatory procedure are followed before registering a Vigilance case against a Member of Parliament like him. He dared the Marxist party-led government to prove the corruption charges against him and said he would end his political life if the investigators were able to do so.

"I am ready to face any probe, even if it is a CBI inquiry or judicial investigation. If they prove that I have committed any financial irregularity of even one rupee, I will quit politics forever," he told reporters here. The Kannur strongman also raised objections against the genuinity and background of the complainant, his former driver Prashanth Babu, who recently lodged a complaint of graft and misappropriation of funds against him with the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

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He also said it was understandable if a case was registered based on the complaint of a trustworthy person. Sudhakaran's reaction came a day after the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau said it had not ordered any preliminary inquiry into the complaint of graft and misappropriation of funds against the KPCC chief but only directed verification of the antecedents of the complainant. He alleged that the complainant was a person who had been expelled from the Congress party after it had become evident that he had tried to facilitate an opportunity to CPI(M) goons to kill him some time back.

Rejecting media reports that Babu was his driver, the leader claimed that he had only called him during the occasions when his permanent driver was away from duty. A boozer, Babu had cheated the bank, where he had earlier worked, to the tune of lakhs of rupees and swindled many by promising jobs at the newly constructed Kannur Airport, Sudhakaran further alleged. He also denied allegations that he or any office bearer of the Kannur District Congress Committee (DCC) had accepted any amount from the expatriates in the Gulf in the name of Karunakaran Memorial Trust.

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According to the complaint lodged by Babu, Sudhakaran allegedly siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 32 crore from the monies received by the K Karunakaran Trust for building a memorial to the politician, a project which never took off. The complaint also alleges that the KPCC president swindled funds collected for the construction of the Kannur DCC office.

PTI

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