Congress' Wayanad landslides rehabilitation fund disclosure fails to silence critics

The Congress, which is eyeing a return to power after a decade in Kerala in the April 9 elections, has disclosed that it collected a little over Rs 5.38 crore for the rehabilitation of victims of the deadly landslides that hit Wayanad in 2024. However, the revelations have not doused the raging controversy with the ruling Left taking regular potshots at the Opposition party over the matter, citing an alleged lack of transparency over the funds’ utilisation.

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The disclosure over the funds came from Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, who said on Saturday (April 4) that the party gathered Rs 5,38,21,632 to help the victims of the Mundakkai–Chooralmala disaster. The leader, who shared the details with the media in an attempt to nullify mounting criticism from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its youth arm, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).

'Funds kept in joint account'

Joseph, who is also an MLA, said the money that was raised was deposited in a joint account held in the names of himself and V D Satheesan, the state’s Leader of Opposition. The Grand-Old Party believes that by conceding such details, it would be able to quell doubts over the process’s transparency.

Addressing the media, Joseph also gave a detailed account of the land which was purchased for constructing homes for the victims of the disaster. The Congress has pushed for the rehabilitation project, which has even seen the involvement of its top leaders, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the latter being the MP from Wayanad.

“In the first phase, 3.25 acres of land were purchased for Rs 3.68 crore, of which Rs 1.05 crore was contributed by the Youth Congress. In the second phase, 2.18 acres were acquired for Rs 2.5 crore. Apart from the funds raised through the party and the Youth Congress’s donation drive, an additional Rs 97 lakh from KPCC funds was also pooled to purchase the land,” he said.

“Another Rs73 lakh is required for registration and other legal procedures related to the land purchase,” Joseph added.

While the Congress has tried to project the criticism against its rehabilitation initiative as meaningless noise, the Left has not stopped going after the former relentlessly, questioning both the scale of the allocation and the actual utilisation of the funds.

DYFI accuses Congress of opacity

The latest controversy came when leaders of the DYFI alleged that the Congress mobilised funds through an app called ‘Stand With Wayanad’, but their trails were not seen in the party’s official financial disclosures. They said neither the documents submitted to the Election Commission in relation to the polls nor the election affidavits filed by Joseph and Satheesan reflected the amounts.

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M Swaraj, a senior CPI(M) leader and member of the party’s Kerala state secretariat, also attacked the Congress, calling it “dead body looters” which exploited a tragedy to make financial gains. Hundreds of people were killed in the landslides in July 2024, with as many injured and thousands getting displaced.

Congress softened its stance

Satheesan initially tried to push back, saying the Congress’s political opponents had no business in scrutinising its internal financial affairs, especially when it came to a humanitarian rehabilitation effort. However, as the controversy continued, the party softened its stance.

Senior leader and MP KC Venugopal said the funds collected were kept in an account with Dhanalakshmi Bank. He also said that the amount was not adequate to carry out the entire mission of reconstructing houses for all affected families. And now comes Joseph’s press revelations.

Joseph’s breakdown of the amounts also little convinced the DYFI. Its Kerala secretary, V K Sanoj, was unrestrained in his attack on the KPCC president, saying the latter presented fabricated figures and even advised that the Congress committee be dissolved.

“Does a party that could not even construct 100 houses for disaster victims have the moral authority to speak about rehabilitation? It would be better to dissolve the KPCC than continue in its present form. The KPCC president should take up some other job. What has been presented now is nothing but fabricated accounts,” he said.

The Congress had offered to construct 100 houses for those affected by the landslides days after the disaster.

Landslide rehabilitation major political issue

The landslide rehabilitation issue has turned into a major political tussle between the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which has also accused the state’s Pinarayi Vijayan government of hastily inaugurating houses for the landslide-affected for the elections.

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The blame and counter-blame have also included stories of individuals who suffered. K Rafeeq, the CPI(M)’s Wayanad district secretary, for example, accused the Congress of letting down Shruthi, a young woman who lost her entire family in the landslides and later her fiancé in a road accident and became the face of the tragedy.

According to him, Shruthi, who had earlier accepted the compensation and opted for a house outside the government township, returned the amount and applied for a house within the township.

Saying that while entire Kerala stood by her at a time of deep sorrow, and the state government treated her case as a special one and also offered her a job in the revenue department, Rafeeq alleged that the Congress used her for a publicity stunt.

“Her suffering was turned into publicity by Congress MLA T Siddique, with promises of a house within 120 days widely circulated. Even after 18 months, that promise remains unfulfilled. Now, she has applied for a house in the township and has expressed her willingness to return the money,” the Left leader said.

It may be mentioned here that Shruthi was offered a house even before the government's rehabilitation plan was finalised. She accepted it. There was also an option of Rs 15 lakh compensation for those who did not want the government housing, which she chose. However, the house that was promised through the Congress MLA did not materialise. Now, Shruthi wants to include herself in the government township and is willing to return the compensation money.

'CPI(M) leader distorting facts'

Siddique denied the allegations, saying, “I never promised to build her (Shruthi) a house. My social media post was about a private organisation that had come forward to provide a house for Shruthi, and I was only present there in that context. CPI(M) leader K Rafeeq is distorting facts and spreading misinformation to tarnish my image ahead of the elections. They have selectively cropped my Facebook post, where I had clearly stated that the house was being built by a private party.”

Meanwhile, television reports and videos from September 2024, showing Siddique presenting the house’s blueprint to Shruthi, describing it as a “fantastic design” with scope for future expansion, while she was in an ambulance, have been widely circulated by the LDF’s social media handles.

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As far as the donations for rehabilitation are concerned, the Congress had also counter-challenged the CPI(M) earlier to disclose its details. In response, the party’s secretary, MA Baby, revealed that Rs 92,99,000 had been donated to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) apart from those mobilised by the DYFI. However, the Congress has also faced flak in the neighbouring Karnataka, where it is in power, from the state Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for contributing Rs 10 crore towards the CMDRF for the rehabilitation of 100 families hit by the landslides.

Even after Joseph’s revelations, the alleged lack of detailed publicly verifiable data on beneficiaries and timelines has also allowed the critics to sustain pressure on the Grand-Old Party.