Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 1 : In a stinging public rebuke, BJP's former Kerala spokesperson M.S. Kumar on Saturday accused the party leadership of abandoning its own workers and held it partly responsible for the suicide of Thiruvananthapuram councillor Anil Kumar.

What has come as a shock to the state leadership is that this comes at a time when the local body polls are around the corner, with the party having huge hopes that they will be able to win the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.

For the past two terms, the BJP has been the principal opposition in the civic body, pushing the Congress to a distant third place, with the CPI-M-led Left ruling it.

In a Facebook post that has since gone viral, Kumar, who now heads the Thiruvithamkoor Cooperative Society, said that, like the late councillor, he too was facing severe mental stress due to the indifference of party leaders.

"Those whom Anil trusted turned away from him. I am going through the same situation," Kumar wrote.

He alleged that several BJP functionaries who had taken loans from the cooperative society were refusing to repay, worsening its financial crisis.

'Seventy per cent of those who took loans are from my own party. Of those who have defaulted, 90 per cent are BJP members ' from ordinary workers to State office-bearers, including cell convenors," said Kumar, who for several years has been a hugely popular leader in the state capital city for the BJP.

Kumar said he had repeatedly appealed to these leaders to repay their dues, but was ignored.

He announced plans to publicly reveal the names of loan defaulters, including senior party figures, in his next post.

"I have never been corrupt, but I'm now hated for having helped people who betrayed me. I have learned a bitter lesson ' never help anyone blindly," he wrote.

Recalling the late councillor's plight, Kumar said Anil was a "sincere young politician" who had to end his life after becoming trapped in the collapsing cooperative sector.

He blamed false media reports and politically motivated attacks for triggering panic among depositors and borrowers, pushing small societies to the brink.

"Anil lost hope when those he expected to stand by him walked away. The same is happening to me," he wrote, adding that political leaders must take responsibility instead of offering condolences after tragedies.

Kumar's post has triggered a fresh storm within the BJP's Kerala unit, already under pressure following allegations of financial mismanagement in several cooperative societies.

/IANS