THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran has achieved his primary objective of collecting funds for the KPCC through his Janapaksha Yatra which was kicked off from Kasargod on November 4.
As he has entered the last phase of the yatra which will conclude here on Tuesday, he has reportedly received Rs 11-12 crore. Each of the 21,458 booth committees donated Rs 15, 000, out of which the KPCC will get Rs 5, 000 and the remaining would be shared by the lower booth committees.
KPCC vice-president M. M. Hassan said the exact amount would be known only after auditing. There were some issues when a few booth committee representatives failed to hand over the funds which led to their suspension.
Mr Sudheeran also campaigned for organic farming and against the plastic menace which was well-received by the lower strata of society.
For the next two days, he will tour Thiruvananthapuram district. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate the valedictory function at Puthirikandam grounds on Tuesday evening. Mr Rahul Gandhi will also attend the KPCC executive meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Sudheeran faced criticism from the ‘I’ group which said the yatra was untimely. Its leaders alleged that he was trying to propagate his pet project, ‘Gandhi Haritha Samridhi,’ for pesticide-free vegetable farming across 140 Assembly constituencies, instead of highlighting the government’s achievements.
Countering this, Mr K. P. Anil Kumar, KPCC general secretary and the yatra’s media convener said, “The PCC chief has been speaking on tomorrow’s politics, not today’s.
The next world war would be for clean drinking water. While Gandhiji called for self-sufficiency, Sudheeran is stressing the need for Malayalis to get pesticide-free vegetables,” he said.
He added that the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad’s activists also attended his yatra at Ashtamudi in support of the green causes.
Mr Sudheeran is not expected to attend the alumni meet of the present and former All-India Youth Congress presidents in New Delhi on Friday called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Speaker G. Karthikeyan also will not attend it.
