The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), has intensified its calls for a thorough police investigation into the recent suspected suicide of BJP’s Thirumala ward councillor, K. Anil Kumar. On Monday, the party explicitly attempted to link the tragedy to the BJP State leadership, demanding accountability.
V. Joy, the CPI(M) district secretary, publicly alleged that the Valiyasala Farm Tour Society, a cooperative managed by the BJP and previously led by Mr. Anil Kumar, had amassed an enormous debt—an estimated ₹6 crore. This staggering sum, he claimed, was largely due to loan defaults by several prominent BJP leaders.
Joy further stated that Mr. Anil Kumar had desperately sought political and financial assistance from the BJP’s state leadership, including Rajiv Chandrasekhar, to calm worried depositors demanding their money back. However, these pleas reportedly went unanswered.
“Mr. Chandrasekhar himself acknowledged on social media that Mr. Anil Kumar had contacted him just two days before his heartbreaking suicide,” Joy pointed out.
The CPI(M) secretary accused the BJP leadership of deflecting public outrage and shielding themselves by unjustly blaming the police and the state government for Anil Kumar’s death.
A Leader’s Despair
For many years, Mr. Anil Kumar had been a recognized and influential figure for the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram, Joy highlighted.
“The profound sense of abandonment felt by Mr. Anil Kumar, seemingly at the hands of his own party during a critical personal crisis, is starkly visible in his suicide note, which has been documented as key evidence by the police. His deep isolation within the BJP was also underscored by his act of setting aside a mere ₹10,000 in a sealed envelope specifically for his funeral expenses,” Joy elaborated.
Joy revealed that Anil Kumar’s wife had expressed her family’s profound disappointment with the BJP leadership when Mr. Chandrasekhar and the party’s district president, Karamana Jayan, visited her on Sunday.
Consequently, despite Mr. Anil Kumar’s long and dedicated service to BJP politics, neither of these leaders attended his funeral. Joy also mentioned that Anil Kumar had been a leading contender for the BJP’s urban district president role, but the party had “surprisingly chosen” Mr. Jayan instead.
Joy asserted that Anil Kumar’s death had exposed and deepened existing divisions within the “faction-ridden” BJP. “Notably, BJP leader V. Muraleedharan, who appears to have his own grievances with Mr. Chandrasekhar, has also called for a police investigation. The CPI(M) fully supports this demand,” he added.
In a related development, the vigilance wing of the State Cooperation Department has launched its own inquiry into the alleged financial irregularities within the Valiyasala Farm Tour Society. Joy urged the government to take action against at least eleven other BJP-managed cooperative societies similarly accused of defrauding hundreds of depositors of their life savings. The BJP, however, has distanced itself from the Valiyasala society, claiming it was Anil Kumar’s personal venture.