Friends or foes? CPM's biggest fund contributor in Kerala was KITEX in 2022-23, reveal ECI records

KITEX group, which has always been at war over a spate of issues with the CPM, was the biggest contributor to the party in 2022-23 from Kerala, reveals the contribution report submitted by the CPM to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

KITEX Ltd contributed Rs 30 lakh to the CPM via cheque, making it the biggest contributor in the state and the second biggest in the country. The report shows that CITU’s Karnataka state committee contributed around Rs 56.8 lakh to the CPM in 2022-23 followed by Rs 30 lakh from KITEX. The figures are shown in Form no: 24A submitted along with the income and expenditure accounts and cash flow statement filed with the ECI. This form shows details of the contributions received in excess of Rs 20,000 by the party during the financial year 2022-23.

In Kerala, CPM mainly received contributions from individuals, jewellery, builders etc.. The party received a total of Rs 6.02 crore in contributions above Rs 20,000 in 2022-23.

When asked why KITEX emerged as the biggest contributor to CPM in Kerala with which it has never got along well, KITEX chairman Sabu Jacob said that the contribution was a gesture of decency. “When they come asking for election funds, we do it out of decency. We give them funds not because we are scared of them. This is a common practice. If they come at us after they receive the money, it is a question of their principles,” Sabu Jacob told Onmanorama. He said that the money was always transferred via bank accounts and that the funds were transferred during Thrikkakkara bypolls.

Responding to the report, CPM state secretary M V Govindan said he was not aware of it. “I don't know about this. It is all about accounts,” he said.

In 2021, Sabu Jacob had come out against the LDF government saying that it had decided to withdraw from a Rs 3500-crore investment project signed during the 'Ascend Global Investors Meet' organised in Kochi by the state government in 2020. This remark had triggered a debate over Kerala's investment-friendly status. Jacob had said that the various units of KITEX were subjected to frequent raids by the officials of various departments.

For the same financial year, BJP received Rs 5 lakh from KITEX garments. The donation list of Congress for 2022-23 doesn't show KITEX among the contributors. CPM and Congress have always been cross with KITEX's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative-turned-political party 'Twenty Twenty' after it won the local body polls consecutively in 2015 and 2020 from Kizhakkambalam.

In 2020, it also gained power in Kunnathunadu, Aikaranad and Mazhuvannur panchayats. The police had registered cases in 2022 and 2024 against Sabu Jacob, who is the chief co-ordinator of Twenty Twenty, for alleged caste abuse against CPM MLA P V Sreenijin.