Speaker is bogeyman on election days. Oppn accuses him of reckless spending to favour ULCCS

Thiruvananthapuram: A senior leader holding a Constitutional post, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, is sought to be projected on election days as the emblem of the deep rot that has set within the CPM.

On the first day of the local body polls on December 8, BJP state president K Surendran alleged that Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan was the "powerful" person the gold smuggling accused had spoken of to the Customs.

On Thursday, the second day of polling, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has come out with documentary evidence that he says demonstrate the "reckless spending and corruption" indulged in by the Speaker. "No speaker in the history of Kerala Assembly has splurged money in this fashion," Chennithala told reporters on Thursday.

The opposition leader was especially concerned with the contracts the Speaker had given Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS) without tender and following any established procedures.

He said for the conduct of the inaugural Loka Kerala Sabha in 2018, the Sankara Narayanan Thampi Hall was renovated for Rs 1.84 crore. The work was awarded to ULCCS without tender and no established procedures were followed.

Chennihala said that in 2020, the hall was further renovated for a cost of Rs 16.65 crore by removing all that was newly installed in 2018 – the seating, chandeliers brought from outside the country and other costly decorations. "The contract for this, too, was for ULCCS. Once again, without tender. And the costly renovation was for just one-and-a-half days. The hall is now kept shut," Chennithala said.

He said that when he raised the issue, the Speaker had said that only half the project cost was spent.

"But by now, Rs 12 crore had already been paid to the ULCCS. And this money was paid to the ULCCS by granting a special exemption from the COVID-induced restriction on public spending," Chennithala said.

He alleged wasteful expenditure in the running of Sabha TV, too. "When there are unoccupied and furnished flats at the disposal of the Legislative Assembly, the Sabha TV consultant is accommodated in a private flat with a monthly rent of Rs 25,000 and an advance of Rs one lakh. It was also found that the kitchen utensils purchased for the flat were also paid for by the Assembly," the opposition leader said.

The Festival of Democracy organised by the Kerala Legislative Assembly was another instance of wasteful spending pointed out by the opposition leader. There were six programmes as part of the event but because of COVID-19, only two could be held. Each of them cost Rs 2.25 crore. Chennithla said food alone cost Rs 68 lakh, and travel, 45 lakh. The publicity for the programme cost Rs 31 lakh.

Chennithla said five employees were appointed on a contract basis for the event at a monthly pay of Rs 30,000 each. "They continue to earn their salaries without doing anything," Chennithala said. He said the new Assembly complex, which was inaugurated in 1998, cost Rs 76 crore. "But in the last four years, the Speaker had spent over Rs 100 crore for construction activities," Chennthala said. He said the Speaker was taking advantage of the immunity the Assembly enjoyed from public scrutiny.

He said he would give a written complaint to the governor and seek a probe into the Speaker's deals.

Reacting to the allegations, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said he never travelled with the any of the accused in the Trivandrum airport gold smuggling case or met them abroad. 

However, he admitted to having acquaintance with Swapna Suresh, one of the key accused in the case.

"But I was unaware of her criminal background," the speaker clarified.

Terming the opposition's charges as baseless, the Speaker said he will not comment on the probe being carried out by central agencies. He said he will think of taking legal action against those raising baseless allegations.

Sreeramakrishnan also said he will fully cooperate with the probe agencies and answer any question they ask.