The Kerala-based Kitex group donated electoral bonds worth Rs 25 crore to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana, the latest data released by the Election Commission of India shows.

Kitex’s bond purchases were made around the same time that a factory of the garment manufacturer in Telangana’s Warangal was nearing completion and another in Rangareddy was starting construction. 

Fifteen bonds worth one crore each bought on July 5, 2023 – by the group’s subsidiaries Kitex Children’s Wear Ltd and Kitex Garments Ltd – were encashed by the BRS on July 17. A few months later, on October 12, the two companies bought bonds worth Rs 10 crore, which were encashed by the BRS on October 16. 

In June 2021, the group announced that it was withdrawing from a Rs 3,500 crore investment project in Kerala, alleging harassment by state government officials. A month later, in July 2021, the group announced its decision to set up its garment factory in Telangana’s Warangal, with an initial investment of Rs 1,000 crore. 

Initially, reports had suggested that the factory in Warangal’s Kakatiya Mega Textile Park was to open in June 2023. However, it did not happen. On June 16, Minister KT Rama Rao said that the factory is “getting ready to be launched in a few months”. Nearly three weeks later, on July 5, bonds worth Rs 15 crore were bought by the two Kitex companies. On July 17, the BRS encashed them. 

On September 28, KT Rama Rao conducted the ground-breaking ceremony for a second factory – an integrated fibre-to-apparel cluster – in Seetharampur of Ranga Reddy district. Two weeks later, on October 12, Kitex made a purchase of electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore, which were encashed by the BRS on October 16. 

Interestingly, elections to the Telangana Assembly were held on November 30, 2023. 

We sent mails to the Kitex Group’s official IDs and messages to managing director Sabu Jacob. This story will be updated when they respond. 

On Monday, March 19, Sabu Jacob gave an interview to the Malayalam portal The Fourth, in which he said that he donated the bonds “out of fear”.

He said, “Today, a Congress follower will donate to the communists. Is it with an intention to help them grow? No. It is due to fear. If they don't pay, they will not be able to live in that society. When that is the condition of an individual, what will be the situation of those running a business? For those like me, either the Supreme Court or the government must ban this by law. In which case, we can say no to donations.” 

When asked why someone like him, who says that the political system in the country is flawed, would donate to the same system through electoral bonds, Sabu shot back: “Is it my hard earned money and not black money? Is it a legal transaction? It has been done as per Indian law. Then what is wrong with me giving money?”

Sabu Jacob is also the founder of Kizhakkambalam Twenty 20, the corporate social responsibility wing of the Anna-Kitex group. The group, which first started manufacturing aluminium products under the name Anna Aluminium, later diversified into manufacturing garments with Kitex Garments. The group also owns Saras, a spice manufacturing firm. 

Kizhakkambalam Twenty 20 is in power in the Kizhakkambalam panchayat, where it is headquartered, and has expanded its control to three neighbouring panchayats following the 2020 local body elections. In the 2021 Aasembly elections in Kerala, Kizhakkambalam Twenty 20 contested from eight seats, but did not win. 

In May 2022, Twenty20 announced a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party in Kerala ahead of a bypoll in Thrikkakara constituency. However in December 2023, Sabu Jacob, announced that the People’s Welfare Alliance, the joint forum of two parties, was being disbanded.

This report is part of a collaborative project involving three news organisations – Newslaundry, Scroll, The News Minute – and independent journalists.

Project Electoral Bond includes Aban Usmani, Anand Mangnale, Anisha Sheth, Anjana Meenakshi, Ayush Tiwari, Azeefa Fathima, Basant Kumar, Binu Karunakaran, Dhanya Rajendran, Divya Aslesha, Jayashree Arunachalam, Joyal, M Rajshekhar, Maria Teresa Raju, Nandini Chandrashekar, Neel Madhav, Nikita Saxena, Parth MN, Pooja Prasanna, Prajwal Bhat, Prateek Goyal, Pratyush Deep, Ragamalika Karthikeyan, Raman Kirpal, Ravi Nair, Sachi Hegde, Shabbir Ahmed, Shivnarayan Rajpurohit, Siddharth Mishra, Sumedha Mittal, Supriya Sharma, Tabassum Barnagarwala and Vaishnavi Rathore.

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