Letter row in CPI(M): Kerala Minister M.B. Rajesh alleges attempts to defame him ahead of elections

Kerala’s Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh said in Kochi on Monday (August 18, 2025) that the attempt to include him among the leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] having alleged financial links with a U.K.-based Keralite businessperson was to “defame” him by raising baseless allegations ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections.

He was referring to the controversy following the media leak of a purported ‘confidential complaint’ to the CPI(M) Polit Bureau, reportedly accusing an assemblage of party leaders from Kerala, including former Ministers, of partnering in financial shenanigans allegedly enabled by the businessman.

“This purported letter has been doing the rounds in WhatsApp for the last four years. Such documents that should be thrown into the dustbin will emerge again as the elections are a few months away,” he told mediapersons.

Asked whether the businessman was his alleged benami, the Minister said he realised the “intent” of the query. “You want to make it the headline. Hence I am not responding to the question,” he said.

Mr. Rajesh said similar allegations had surfaced against him ahead of the previous Assembly election as well. “It included the allegations around the appointment of my wife [as a faculty member at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit] and the accusation that I was aiding the accused in the Walayar case. The investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation had brought out the truth behind the Walayar case,” he said.