india

Updated: Jan 24, 2019 15:09 IST

Kerala Congress working president K Sudhkaran, also a former MP from Kannur, landed in a big controversy after he said the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan “was worse than a woman”. He later tendered an apology.

While speaking at a UDF-sponsored protest rally in Kasargode (north Kerala) on Wednesday against the state government which completed 1,000 days in office he said party workers often eulogized the chief minister as a man with two strong hearts and that everyone thought he would be something like a man when he assumed power. But he said he not only failed to act like a man but also proved to be worse than a woman.

“We all thought he will do something like a man but he proved beyond any doubt that he is worse than a woman,” he said at the meet.

Many women rights activists and CPI(M) leaders have criticised his speech.

“It clearly exposes his chauvinistic attitude. The party should explain his irresponsible statement,” said tribal leader and activist CK Janu. He later tendered an apology saying his speech was taken out context and misinterpreted.

“It was not meant to hurt anyone. If anybody is hurt I am really sorry for it,” he said. A senior CPI(M) woman leader said she will file a complaint with the state women commission over the gender-insensitive comments.

Notorious for his acerbic tongue, Sudhakaran has found himself in the thick of many such controversies earlier too. When the party remained silent on the emotional Sabarimala issue, he warned the leadership that the party’s continued silence will be a blank cheque to saffron forces. A grassroots leader he is one of the top contenders for the Kannur Lok Sabha seat which he lost to PK Sreemati of CPI(M) with a slender margin in 2014.