Bribery row: Central leadership of BJP ordered Vinod’s ouster

Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP central leadership’s intervention led to the ouster of the party’s cooperative cell convenor R S Vinod from the organization’s primary membership.

The expulsion came a day after became public that Vinod had accepted Rs 5.6 crore as bribe from the chairman of the SR Educational & Charitable Trust in Varkala, for getting the Medical Council of India’s sanction for a planned medical college.

Vinod’s expulsion came a few hours after BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan downplayed the allegations, terming the media reports “exaggerated.”

BJP sources said the party’s central leadership ordered Vinod’s expulsion.

The party’s core committee and state committee meetings, scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Alappuzha, might act against those responsible for leaking the probe report to the media.

Meanwhile, in an apparent move to avoid further embarrassment to the party, SR trust chairman R Shaji rejected the probe panel report, saying he had neither submitted any complaint to the BJP state president nor handed over money to anyone for MCI approval.

The statement, however, has been seen as a move to avert more damage. The panel was constituted based on his complaint to Rajasekharan.

In his complaint, Shaji said Vinod had promised MCI approval with the help of a Delhi-based ‘middleman’, Sathish Nair.

The complaint also mentioned one Rakesh Sivaraman, who had introduced himself as Rajasekharan’s staff member.

Sivaraman, a resident of Neyyattinkara, though frequented the party office, held no charges in the organization, BJP said.

Meanwhile in Thrissur, probe panel member A K Nazeer said Vinod had admitted to accepting money. Shaji had complained that Sathish Nair had demanded another Rs 17 crore for MCI recognition.

Nazeer said the report had not mentioned party leader M T Ramesh.

He claimed that the report, which he himself had typed was sent only to the party state president. He demanded an inquiry into how it was leaked to the media.

(With inputs from Thrissur bureau)


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