Thiruvananthapuram: Former Congress leader Cherian Philip on Sunday kicked up a storm of protest with his comments on Facebook, reports in the media said.
Cherian Phillip, a one-time close associate of defence minister AK Antony, till they fell out in 2001 after being denied an assembly ticket, said that women in the party had to perform sexual favours to get a ticket to contest elections.
A few days ago, Youth Congress workers had taken out a street march in Thrissur after removing their shirt in protest against denial of seats to contest local body elections.
Referring to that protest, Philip commented in Facebook, “The youth congress protest by removing shirt was a model agitation. In the past, those women who had secretly staged this agitation had got Congress tickets to contest polls.”
Kerala state chief V M Sudheeran demanded withdrawal of the anti woman statement. Mahila Congress state president Bindu Krishna said Philip insulted women party workers. She threatened to move court if the former party leader failed to retract his comments.
Phillip however, was not fazed by the protests, “I had referred to some leaders who are insult to womanhood. I had commented against those male leaders who exploited women.” Phillips said.
Referring to Sudheeran’s demand that he should apologize, Philip said, “Out of sheer decency I haven’t revealed many secret things in the Congress. If you depict me anti woman, I would be forced to reveal several incidents about exploitation of women by Congress leaders. There are stinking stories about how certain women leaders obtained tickets in elections”.
“When Antony was president and Sudheeran was vice president in state Congress, I had served as party general secretary. Sudheeran knows everything,” said Philip.
“If Bindu Krishna moves court against me, Congress leaders would get exposed. I should be subjected to polygraph test. Let everything in my mind come out,” he said.
