Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi/Thrissur. The Congress and the BJP on Tuesday intensified their demand for actor-politician M Mukesh’s resignation from the post of MLA. The CPI(M) MLA, who is facing allegations of sexual harassment, called it “the same political drama that was staged in 2018”. Mukesh said a proper and transparent investigation is necessary to uncover the truth behind the allegations. He claimed that a group is trying to blackmail him for money and he is the one making the allegations. He said strict legal action will be taken against them.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V.D. Satheesan and BJP state president K. Surendran said Mukesh should resign from the post of MLA. Satheesan said it was up to Mukesh and his party Communist Party of India (Marxist) to decide whether he should resign or not, and hoped they would take the appropriate decision. “Many allegations have been levelled against Mukesh and Kerala society is keenly watching how he and his party react to this,” the opposition leader said. He also said that if the government had taken action against the “real culprits”, innocent people in the film industry would not have been attacked.
Surendran accused the CPI(M) and the state government of trying to protect Mukesh. “If director Ranjit and actor Siddique can resign, why not Mukesh?” he said. In a statement, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) accused the state government of trying to protect some people by not taking any action based on the Justice Hema Committee report.
KPCC General Secretary M Leeju said that the party will hold a state-wide protest against the anti-women attitude of the state government. He said that during this, the resignation of the state’s Culture Minister Saji Cherian will also be demanded and an inquiry will also be demanded into the role of Kerala Transport Minister KB Ganesh Kumar in connection with the allegations of sexual harassment.
In his reply, Mukesh said that the woman who levelled the allegations against him had first asked him for a chance to work in films in 2009. He claimed, “I replied as usual that I will try. Later when she met me in person, she sent me messages on WhatsApp praising my behaviour.” Mukesh claimed that in 2022, the woman again contacted him over the phone and demanded huge financial assistance from him. The CPI(M) MLA further said that later, a man claiming to be her husband also demanded money from her over the phone.
He said, “The group that was trying to blackmail me for money has now turned against me at the first opportunity.” Meanwhile, the Kerala police said that the cases registered on the basis of the recent allegations will be handed over to a special team formed to investigate allegations made by women in the film industry.
Suresh Gopi is entitled to his views, party wants Mukesh to resign: BJP leader
Union Minister Suresh Gopi’s remarks accusing the media of misleading the public about the film industry in connection with recent allegations of sexual harassment against actors and directors stirred a controversy on Tuesday. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kerala unit disagreed with his stand.
When asked about the allegations against actor and CPI-M MLA M Mukesh in Thrissur, Gopi told reporters that the matter was sub-judice and it would decide on it. “You (media) are not only pitting people against each other for your own benefit but also misleading the public. The complaints are currently in the form of allegations. What are you telling people? Are you the court? No, you are not. The court will decide. Let the court decide,” he said. Following this, BJP state unit president K Surendran said Gopi, as an actor and minister, was entitled to express his personal opinion but the party’s stand was that Mukesh should resign.
Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Surendran said, “The party’s stand is what the party leadership decides.” According to visuals aired on TV channels, when journalists tried to take Gopi’s comment on Surendran’s statement, he angrily pushed some of them. According to visuals, when Gopi was trying to get into his official vehicle, some journalists approached him, after which he pushed them saying, “What is this? It is my right to go anywhere. Please move.” He then sat inside the car and left without answering any questions of the journalists.
Earlier, Gopi had termed the allegations as “food” for the media and said they were welcome to make money out of it.
However, the Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism said that they should not try to destroy such a big industry like cinema.
Gopi had said, “All this is like food for you, I understand that. You can use it to earn money. There is no problem with that. But these issues are pending before the court and it has the intelligence and reasoning power to reach a decision regarding them.”