Despite calls for resignation, Mamkootathil stays put as MLA

Congress leader Rahul Mamkootathil, MLA, on Sunday, gave no definitive answer concerning bipartisan political calls for his resignation following accusations of sexual misconduct. 

Emerging out of an almost hermitic existence, Mr. Mamkootathil, nevertheless, told a hastily arranged press conference at his residence at Adoor in Pathanamthitta on Sunday that he did not desire to push the Congress into a political purgatory. Congress workers “should not hang their heads in shame” because of him. 

Facing a volley of combative questions from journalists, who have been on a stakeout outside his house for several days, Mr. Mamkootathil said the startling accusations had rendered him a recluse briefly. “I am also a human being. Scores of party workers called me, some critical, others supportive and several deeply saddened,” he said. 

Broadcasting scepticism about the accusations of inappropriate behaviour swirling around him, Mr. Mamkootathil reasoned that his stature as a frontline defender of Congress rendered him a magnet for political enemies. 

Countering charges

The MLA sought to make a case in his defence by airing audio clips and WhatsApp chats to support his claim that a journalist had asked leading questions to a “transgender friend” of his to ensnare him in a politically damaging conspiracy.

Mr. Mamkootathil disregarded questions concerning his visit to his Palakkad Assembly constituency, where the MLA faced a threat of boycott by Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers. 

Later, Mr. Mamkootathil sought to draw a similarity between the attacks against him and attempts to undermine the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. 

He posted a picture of Mr. Gandhi on social media with a caption portraying the leader as a survivor of disparaging attacks. “They mocked him, they accused him, they attacked him in an organised way. They tried to bring him down. Those who once praised turned into critics. Yet, even after being stabbed, he fights on without complaints. Because for him, this movement is greater… Beyond positions and titles, he is a Congressman… Rahul Gandhi,” Mr. Mamkootathil wrote. 

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national handles struck by somewhat cynically playing on the similarity in Mr. Mamkootathil and Mr. Gandhi’s first names.