The BJP in Kerala made Rs 18 crore by selling petrol pumps while the NDA was in power in New Delhi, but a coterie led by a top RSS nominee in the party pocketed a substantial part of that amount, says the report by a high-level panel which was set up to investigate the party’s poor performance in a Lok Sabha bypoll. The report says that the money is being used to fund anti-party activities.

According to the probe report, there was even a fixed scale for bribes to allot petrol pumps during the 2003 scam, exposed by The Indian Express which found how BJP leaders had got the pumps allotted to friends and relatives across India.

K Raman Pillai, former state BJP president, explains how the party made money from the pumps and where it went, in his testimony in the probe report: “About Rs 18 crore had been collected... (but) accounts of only two crores have been furnished. The balance amount they are keeping and using to help followers for acting against the party. These collections were carried out by P P Mukundan (RSS nominee and BJP organising secretary for Kerala and Tamil Nadu) and Prof Narayanan Nair (BJP state treasurer)....’’

Pillai goes on to explain that party workers were actually offered a discount on the bribe: “In the Quilon district committee meeting, Prof Nair demanded Rs 20 lakh from party workers and Rs 25 lakh from others for getting sanction for petrol pumps. This can be seen in the minutes of the meeting....’’

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