Thiruvananthapuram | The Congress on Saturday intensified its attack against the ruling CPI(M) over the purported telephonic conversation between two DYFI leaders and said it is "clear proof" of the involvement of Marxist party leaders in all "tainted deals".
The ruling party has turned out to be a gang of "burglars" and the revelation would mark the beginning of the downfall of the Pinarayi Vijayan government, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan told reporters in Kochi.
His reaction came a day after political controversy erupted in Kerala after the audio clip surfaced, alleging that senior CPI(M) leaders in Thrissur, including MK Kannan and MLA AC Moideen, had amassed wealth.
Satheesan said the revelations against the Left leaders were not made by the opposition, but by the district secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI(M).
Taking a dig at the ruling party, the LoP said, according to the DYFI district secretary, the district leaders of the CPI(M) in Thrissur were a "gang of thieves".
"That means, the state leaders of the party are a gang of robbers," he further alleged.
Accusing the CPI(M) leaders of accepting "commission" for various appointments, including for postings in police in Thrissur, he said many district leaders have become "crorepatis" now.
"The present revelations have become clear proof of the involvement of CPI(M) leaders in all tainted deals," Satheesan alleged.
He also recalled the Karuvannur Cooperative bank scam, in which the CPI(M) district leaders faced allegation, and accused the party leaders of "looting over Rs 400 crore" deposited by the common people in the institution.
However, senior CPI(M) leader E P Jayarajan rejected the allegations against the district leaders in connection with the telephone conversation and said there is a "deliberate move" to tarnish the party.
"The allegation has been raised against Kannan. But, he has already made it clear that he has no such account in any bank. He also rubbished it as a fake news," he told reporters here.
He also said if anybody adopted a wrong stand from within the party, action would be taken against them as per the organisational rules.
In an audio clip surfaced on Friday, DYFI Thrissur district secretary Sarath Prasad was heard making serious allegations against party leaders during a conversation with another party leader, Nibin Sreenivasan of Mannuthy.
Both Sarath and the CPI(M) later claimed that the conversation had taken place five years ago.
Sarath is heard saying that once leaders move up in the party, their financial position changes and that none of the district leaders face monetary problems.
He allegedly claimed that Kannan, who once sold groundnuts in Thrissur town, now owns property worth crores, and that MLA Moideen is involved in high-level deals.
Nibin was recently demoted by the CPI(M) Mannuthy area committee as part of disciplinary action.
Both Kannan and Moideen had previously faced an Enforcement Directorate probe in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank money laundering case.
Reacting to the charges, Kannan said he had no more than Rs 100 in his bank account.
"Even the ED conducted a thorough investigation and found nothing against me. I know Sarath, and he claimed it was a fabricated audio clip. The person who leaked the audio has already been expelled from the party," he said.
Moideeen is yet to respond to the allegations.
In the wake of the audio clip, Congress leader Anil Akkara said he had lodged a complaint with the Income Tax department seeking a probe into the assets of Kannan and Moideen.
