Kozhikode (Kerala), Aug 26 (PTI) Facing flak from rival parties, including the ruling CPI(M), over the controversy surrounding Congress’ suspended Palakkad MLA, its senior leader V D Satheesan warned the Left party against “playing too much” as it would soon face “shocking” revelations itself.
Satheesan also told the Kerala BJP unit, which held a protest march to his official residence with a bull, that it would need that animal soon to organise an agitation against its state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
While addressing reporters here, the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly pointed a finger and said that his gesture should not be taken as a threat.
“All I have to say to them is do not play too much on this issue. You are in for a shock. You can take it as a threat also if you want. Kerala will be shocked. It will happen soon,” Satheesan asserted.
Hitting back at him, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan said the Left party was not scared by mere statements and it has no problem facing whatever comes its way.
“Let it come, whatever it is. We are not scared. It is all talk till now. Nothing has happened. CPI(M) is not scared, you can be assured of that. We have no problem facing whatever comes our way,” he told reporters in Idukki.
Govindan further said that “bombs” are falling on the Congress and the UDF and will continue to do so.
A similar stand was taken by BJP leader and former Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan who responded to Satheesan’s threat by saying that the Congress leader was welcome to take whatever steps he wanted.
“Just do it now. Why announce it in advance? Making such statements will not help to divert attention from the Mamkootathil issue,” he said.
The BJP leader also termed Mamkootathil’s suspension a “drama” enacted by the Congress to safeguard the Palakkad assembly seat.
He alleged that it was all an arrangement between Mamkootathil and senior leaders of the party to mislead the public.
“If he is suspended from the primary membership of the party and he was asked to resign from the post of state president of Youth Congress, why is he still representing the people of Palakkad? “A people’s representative facing such allegations should not continue as an MLA. The Congress has betrayed the people by not seeking his resignation as legislator. It should apologise to the public,” Muraleedharan said.
Meanwhile, in a minor relief for Mamkootathil, members of the Kerala Pradesh Transgender Congress said that they have interacted and worked with the Palakkad MLA several times and he has never misbehaved with them.
They claimed that the transgender person who levelled accusations against Mamkootathil was at one time his close friend and was instigated by the BJP to make the allegations.
“That person is now part of the BJP and on their instigation made the allegations against him. We have audio recordings which can prove that,” they claimed at a press conference held in Ernakulam.
They also claimed that the transgender person has expressed willingness to put out a social media post saying that Mamkootathil did no wrong.
They further contended that it was a TV channel which called the transgender person to ask whether there was any bad experience with Mamkootathil.
“It indicates that there was a conspiracy behind this. Our issue is why was a community used for this. It has caused problems for our community. Lot of our friends are now avoiding us. Our credibility has been affected,” they told reporters.
It was an attempt to malign his image, they added.
They also said that they will be holding a protest against the TV channel for misusing a member of their community.
Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters in Kozhikode, Satheesan also said that the issue concerning Mamkootathil was a “closed subject” since Congress, as a responsible party, has taken a decision that upholds the self-respect of women.
He said the party’s decision has made a mark in the political history of Kerala as no one else has taken such a stand.
Satheesan further said that the ruling LDF, which is calling for Mamkootathil’s resignation as legislator, was forgetting the fact that one of its MLAs was a rape accused.
He also said that a Left minister was accused of making sexually slanderous remarks against a woman.
Satheesan also claimed that the Left was highlighting the accusations against Mamkootathil to prevent discussions on hawala-related corruption allegations against CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan’s son and some senior party leaders.
Mamkootathil was suspended from the primary membership of the party on Monday.
He had recently quit as Youth Congress state president after Malayalam actress Rini Ann George accused “a young leader” of a well-known political party of misbehaviour and subsequent protests by BJP and DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI(M). The leader was facing an internal party inquiry as well.
Subsequently, several women and a transgender person accused him of similar charges. PTI HMP HMP KH
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