As pressure mounts on young Congress leader Rahul Mamkootathil to quit as a legislator in the wake of allegations raised by women of misconduct, the issue has created fault lines within the Congress.
Rahul was forced to quit as the state Youth Congress president Thursday after a TV journalist-turned-actor Rini Ann George accused a “young politician” of sending her obscene messages and inviting her to a hotel room.
Mamkootathil was elected from Palakkad assembly in a by-election last year. As the allegations snowballed into a major row after another woman spoke up, AICC general secretary Deepa Dasmunsi, who is in charge of the party’s Kerala affairs, said Saturday that Rahul had “resigned” as youth congress president two days ago “and that chapter is over”. Senior party legislator and Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, however, appeared to differ, saying that the resignation “was the first step of action”.
Meanwhile, the issue of whether Rahul should continue as legislator has divided the party. Those who support him cite Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator M Mukesh’s continued role as MLA even after he was chargesheeted in an alleged rape case that emerged in the wake of the Hema committee report last year. They also argue that there have been no police complaints against Rahul.
However, those who demand his resignation want an early burial of the row, which they fear would affect the Congress-led United Democratic Front’s prospects in upcoming local body elections and assembly elections.
On his part, Satheesan, who has taken over the onus to lead the front to power in the assembly elections next year, has said that the party will “seriously examine the matter and take an uncompromising action”.
Referring to CPI(M) and BJP leaders remaining in posts even after they figured in sexual harassment cases, Satheesan said: “Congress has its own decision. Our decision was not taken after examining what CPI(M) and BJP had done.”
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Senior party leader and KPCC political affairs committee member T N Prathapan, too, appeared to be coming out against the Palakkad MLA, saying that the matter was “very serious”.
“The party will take further action. Public servants should be role models in their personal life as well as public life,” he said.
However, AICC general secretary Deepa Dasmunsi’s statement was more ambiguous. She said: “We did not get any complaint till day and no FIR has been registered against him. We should get some official complaints. That chapter was over two days ago. He has resigned from Youth Congress. It is not a legal battle — it’s on moral ground that he had quit”.
However, Congress MP and state working president Shafi Parambil believed that the demand that Rahul should step down as legislator was “politically motivated”.
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“He had quit as Youth Congress president even without a case or complaint against. His resignation was a clear step towards morality,” he said.