K-FON project rife with corruption, alleges Congress-led UDF opposition

A day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Congress-led UDF of only looking for ways to oppose development in the state, the opposition on Tuesday hit back by alleging that the Left government’s K-FON project was rife with corruption.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly V D Satheesan alleged that there was corruption in the escalation of the project cost by 50 per cent from Rs 1,028 crore to Rs 1,548 crore and also in the award of the sub-contracts.

Satheesan claimed that the project cost was escalated by 50 per cent based on a letter by M Sivasanker, former principal secretary of Vijayan, who is an accused in two criminal cases — the Life Mission scam and the gold smuggling through diplomatic bags.