Congress leader Cherian Philip claims women had to perform sexual favours for party tickets
THIRUVANANTPURM : Former Congress leader Cherian Philip said that women leaders in the Congress party had to perform sexual favours in order to secure tickets for elections. Philip made the statement on his Facebook page on Sunday.
Kerala Congress chief VM Sudheeran condemned his statements while Mahila Congress leaders Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman said his statements were an insult to women. The two women leaders are contemplating taking legal action against him, media reports say.
In his Facebook post, Cherian Philip clarified saying that his comments were not targeted at the women but at the men who exploited women in the party. He referred to Mahila Congress leaders Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman as his sisters. He said that since they had known him for many years now they should not misunderstand his statements.
“When Antony was president and Sudheeran was vice president in the state Congress, I was the party general secretary. Sudheeran knows what happened then and so do I,” stated Philip. He said he knew ‘secrets’ about how women in the party got tickets and that if VM Sudheeran filed a case against him, he’ll have to take a polygraph and the secrets will come tumbling out.
His remarks on Facebook come after a ‘shirtless’ protest undertaken by some Congress activists in Thrissur recently. The protest was against tickets denied to them for the local body polls to be held in November. Philip stated that this was a new model of protest that should be followed by people. He added on his Facebook post that this is similar to the protest carried out by women earlier in order to get tickets.
In another Facebook post, Philip added that he had nothing to hide and was willing to reveal the truth, but that it would mean Congress leaders in the state would get exposed. CPI-M Rajya Sabha MP and AIDWA leader TN Seema have asked Philip to withdraw the comments and apologise.
Philip is a former close aide of senior Congress leader AK Antony. In 2001, he was denied a ticket for the assembly elections and quit the party in revolt.
