A s reports and rumours keep coming out on a daily basis on the alleged relationships 35-year-old con woman Saritha S Nair had been having with powerful men in Kerala, several top leaders in the State Congress are facing the possibility of losing their positions and of not getting ticket for the coming lok Sabha elections.
If the first man facing the threat of losing position over the scam, most probably after the lok Sabha polls, is none other than Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, whose office was allegedly misused by Saritha, prime accused in 33 cases pertaining to the solar scam, the latest in the list of possible victims of ‘Saritha-gate’ is Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation KC Venugopal.
Venugopal could have heaved a sigh of relief some three months ago when talks over his alleged relationship with Saritha had died down but the charge has now come back to haunt him with the lawyer of Biju Radhakrishnan, her former husband and co-accused in the solar scam cases, claiming that he has in his possession videos showing the Minister sharing bed with her.
Saritha on Friday denied the allegation of Biju’s lawyer Jacob Mathew and asked the media to ‘wait and see’ when she was asked to identify the persons who had exploited her sexually if Venugopal, a State Minister and a former Minister had nothing to do with it. However, as far as the Union Minister is concerned, the damage has already been done, say observers.
There is a theory that Biju and Saritha, either by themselves or through their lawyers, have been making such ‘disclosures’ as a blackmailing technique so that they could extort money from their victims for settling their cases of cheating associated with the solar scam but the general feeling in the Kerala society is that at least some of these sleazy stories could be true.
“Irrespective of whether these stories are true or false, the party cannot afford to field the likes of Venugopal for the lok Sabha election especially in the context of the fierce faction war in it,” said a senior Congress leader known for its group-neutral stand. Venugopal was elected MP from the Alappuzha constituency by a margin of over 57,000 votes in the 2009 polls.
According to sources, demands have already risen in the State Congress for finding out whether State Tourism Minister AP Anilkumar, the other leader accused of sharing bed with the con woman, had visited Thekkady on a particular night — as some earlier reports had said — with Saritha and film star and former Forest Minister KB Ganesh Kumar of the Kerala Congress (B).
Ganesh Kumar, who was forced to resign as minister on April 1 last following a complaint of domestic violence from his (former) wife Yamini Thankachi, was the first top leader to be accused — by Biju himself — of having illicit relationship with Saritha. Ganesh had even called a Press conference to deny the charge but the effort had failed to gain credibility.
Biju had in June disclosed that he had met the Chief Minister at Kochi last year and had complained directly to him that Ganesh Kumar had destroyed his family life with his relationship with Saritha. Chandy has admitted that he had met Biju, an infamous fraudster and accused of own first wife’s murder, but has stubbornly refused to divulge what transpired between them.
The ‘disclosure’ made by Biju and his lawyer on Saritha’s alleged relationships has come at a time when Ganesh Kumar and his party were putting pressure on Chandy to re-induct him into the Cabinet. “We will never allow this to happen,” said a Congress leader belonging to the ‘I’ group of the party led by State chief Ramesh Chennithala.
It is obvious that Kerala politics will revolve around Saritha stories for many more months. Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan seems to be determined to continue his attack against Chandy and his Cabinet over this issue just like he has been doing Muslim league’s PK Kunhalikutty over the ice cream parlour sex abuse scandal for the past 16 years.