'Congress helped Rahul by not asking him to resign as MLA, his political mentors are also under cloud of suspicion'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former BJP state president K Surendran has said that the Congress leadership cannot evade responsibility for keeping Rahul Mamkootathil as an MLA for so long. He said the party should have forced Rahul to resign when the first complaints emerged. Instead, the Congress has now taken what he called a “laughable move” by saying they are not responsible simply because he has been expelled- “as if they were incapable of taking action earlier,” Surendran said.

Surendran added that if the Congress had any genuine commitment to the public and to women, they would have ensured Rahul Mamkootathil’s resignation from the Assembly at the very beginning. He alleged that the party’s current claim of expelling him is merely an attempt to mislead the people.

He further claimed that several young Congress leaders, particularly those seen as Rahul Mamkootathil’s political mentors, are also under a cloud of suspicion. According to Surendran, many of Rahul’s wrongful actions took place with the support of such leaders. "Despite receiving multiple complaints years ago, the KPCC president, the Leader of the Opposition, and Shafi Parambil, who is Rahul’s mentor, chose to ignore them, he alleged. The Congress leadership cannot now wash its hands of the responsibility of protecting Rahul for so long," Surendran added.

Surendran also accused the Pinarayi Vijayan government of deliberately delaying Rahul Mamkootathil’s arrest. He alleged that the delay was not due to any inability to act, but because the government wanted to wait until after the local body elections. Surendran claimed that the police themselves leaked information to Rahul and monitored his movements throughout. According to him, postponing the arrest until the elections ended was part of a conspiracy by the police and the government.