Former Congress leader Cherian Philip on Sunday said that women in the party had to perform sexual favours to get ticket to contest elections. Philip, a one-time shadow of senior leader A K Antony, made the comment in his Facebook page.

A few days ago, Youth Congress workers had taken out a street march in Thrissur after removing their shirt in protest against denial of seats to contest local body elections.

Referring to that protest, Philip commented in Facebook ” the youth congress protest by removing shirt was a model agitation. In the past those women who had secretly staged this agitation had got Congress tickets to contest polls.”

Philip’s comments created furore in Congress with party state chief V M Sudheeran demanding withdrawal of the anti woman statement. Mahila Congress state president Bindu Krishna said Philip insulted women party workers. She threatened to move court if the former party leader failed to retract his comments.

Despite being under fire from women leaders, Philip stuck to his stand.

He said he had not made any anti woman statement. “Instead, I had referred to some leaders who are insult to womanhood. I had commented against those male leaders who exploited women.”

Referring to Sudheeran’s demand that he should apologize, Philip said, “Out of sheer decency I haven’t revealed many secret things in Congress. If you depict me anti woman, I would be forced to reveal several incidents about exploitation of women by Congress leaders. There are stinking stories about how certain women leaders obtained tickets in elections.

“When Antony was president and Sudheeran was vice president in state Congress, I had served as party general secretary. Sudheeran knows everything,” said Philip.

“If Bindu Krishna moves court against me, Congress leaders would get exposed. I should be subjected to polygraph test. Let everything in my mind come out,” he said.

Philip had been a close associate of Antony and chief minister Oommen Chandy for several years. He raised a revolt against the party in 2001 after he was denied ticket to contest assembly election in that year. Subsequently, he left Congress and fought against Chandy as Left candidate from Puthuppally.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.