BJP calls accusations of sexual misconduct against C. Krishnakumar politically motivated

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Rajiv Chandrasekhar on Thursday termed the accusations of sexual misconduct against party vice-president C. Krishnakumar as a damp squib.

Mr. Chandrasekhar told a press conference that the party had received a complaint from the alleged victim and would examine its veracity.

He said Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan’s threat to put the BJP on the defensive by dropping a bomb shell accusation on its leadership turned out to be a dud.

Mr. Satheesan had appeared miffed when BJP workers marched to his official residence Cantonment House with a stud bull used for breeding purposes in tow to mock Mr. Mamkootathil’s getting ensnared in sexual misconduct accusations.

He countered the lampooning by asking BJP activists to keep the bull tethered in front of Mr. Chandrasekhar’s house, warning that shocking revelations were imminent.

Mr. Krishnakumar denied the accusations in Palakkad. He stated that a woman relative, who lost a civil suit against him, had sought to defame him by raising unfounded accusations.

He claimed that the police had investigated the claims in 2014 and found them to be false. Mr. Krishnakumar produced police reports and court documents to prove his case of innocence.

A BJP insider said the accusations, primarily on the face of it, appeared to be a fallout of intra-party rivalry in Palakkad, which spilt onto the streets ahead of the Assembly bypoll in 2025.

He noted that former BJP spokesperson Sandeep Warrier had defected to the Congress after the BJP nominated Mr. Krishnakumar as its candidate in the Assembly constituency.

Meanwhile, television channels aired unverified voice clips, attributing them to the alleged survivor, who signalled that she would file a police complaint against Mr. Krishnakumar and law enforcement had stacked the odds against her in the 2014 probe.