The Hindu : CPI(M) to tighten screws on fund flow

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

CPI(M) to tighten screws on fund flow

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Sept. 21. With the Manichan pay-roll revelations taking a heavy toll on its image, the State CPI(M) has resolved to tighten the screws on flow of funds at various levels of the party.

Though a little late in the day, the party has discovered that the norms that it had evolved as part of the 1996-'97 `rectification campaign' for collection of funds should be enforced with an iron hand if Sathyanesans are not to embarrass it in the days to come. The former Thiruvananthapuram district secretary was expelled the other day for having taken around Rs. 45 lakhs from Manichan, the prime accused in the Kalluvathukkal liquor tragedy.

Thus, from now on, no party unit would be allowed to collect funds exceeding the ceiling fixed for it which is Rs. 250 from any single individual in the case of branch committees, Rs. 1,000 in the case of local committees and Rs. 5,000 in the case of area committees. In case any committee wishes to accept a higher amount from a person, it would have to secure the concurrence from the immediate higher committee which itself would have the power to allow relaxation only up to the level sanctioned for it. Thus an area committee can allow a local committee to accept only Rs. 5,000 from a single individual.

``We intend to make reporting of the State committee decision to the lower units an occasion to remind party cadres about the necessity to stick to the norms and the stress would be on two points: do not accept money from undesirable elements and make fund collection a collective and not an individual activity,'' the CPI(M) State secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, told The Hindu here today.

Mr. Vijayan said the action against Mr. Sathyanesan was also intended to communicate to the lower units the message that all complaints of a similar nature pending decision should be acted upon immediately. He said the question whether other donations had reached the party and were properly accounted for would also be looked into and denied suggestions that the action against Mr. Sathyanesan was motivated by factional considerations. ''It was actually a question of party's survival and the decision was taken with the party standing as one man,'' he said.

He did not think there was much merit in the criticism about the party stand that it could not be faulted for having taken money from Manichan before his involvement in the liquor mishap came to light. Every political party was dependent on donations for their activities and nobody can eschew any person in anticipation. One way to avoid acceptance of money from undesirable elements was to depend on small donations. That was precisely what the party had done when organising the Kannur State conference and what it proposed to do by insisting on compliance with the fund collection norms, he claimed. Asked how money taken for the party could be clean money and that taken by individuals tainted money, Mr. Vijayan said the difference was substantive. While leaders of every political party had to involve themselves in fund collection for the legitimate activities of their parties, it was wrong for any individual leader to collect funds for himself. Such person deserved to be punished and that was what the party did in Mr. Sathyanesan's case, he added.

On the decision to dissolve the Alapuzha and Thrissur district committees of the party, the CPI(M) State secretary said factionalism was most rampant in these two districts and this had been taken note of by both the Kannur State conference and the 17th Party Congress at Hyderabad. ''We could stub out factionalism at the State-level, but a little remained at the lower levels and what happened in Thrissur and Alapuzha were its worst manifestations. With the dissolution of the two committees, we have signalled that if anyone indulged in factional activities, they will have to face action,'' he said.

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CPI(M) to tighten screws on fund flow