Kerala minister who tried to settle molestation complaint gets party backing

The interventions made by Kerala Forest Minister and NCP leader A K Saseendran to settle a molestation complaint against a party local leader is snowballing into a major political row in Kerala with the opposition Congress and the BJP demanding his removal from the Cabinet.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that the issue would be raised in the Assembly session beginning on Thursday.

Saseendran, who called on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday morning, seems to have maintained that the entire row was the outcome of internal issues in the party. NCP state president P C Chacko also backed Saseendran by stating that Saseendran only asked the complainant's father to settle the complaint amicably and he did not ask him to withdraw the petition.

The fresh row is over Saseendran asking the father of woman who complained of molestation by a NCP local leader of Kollam to settle the complaint amicably. The telephonic conversation of the minster with the woman's father, who is also a NCP worker, had come out. The woman in a BJP worker.

Read | Kerala minister allegedly tried to settle molestation case

Incidentally Saseendran had to quit from the previous Pinarayi Vijayan ministry after allegations of sleaze talk with a channel reporter. It was alleged to a honey trap. Saseendran was exonerated after the woman withdrew her complaint. Hence he had made a come back to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the woman who gave the molestation complaint against NCP local leader said that if the Chief Minister did not take action against Saseendran she would move legally against him for trying to settle her complaint.

Even though the woman, who is a BJP worker, gave the molestation complaint to the local police last month, the police registered a case only by Tuesday after the matter became controversial.

Though the police received couple of petitions seeking action against Saseendran for trying to interfere in the case, the police is yet to take action.