Outgoing Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, 87, is in the eye of a storm after he made a lewd remark against political rival from Malampuzha constituency, Lathika Subhash (45) of Congress.
"She (Lathika Subhash) is famous for many things. I don't have to tell you. You can make out," he told reporters in Palakkad on Tuesday.
Angered by this remark, women's bodies have demanded an apology from the CM. "The party will petition the National Commission for Women," said M M Hassan, Congress spokesman.
"I am sad. He's even elder to my father. I never expected such a statement from him," said Subhash.
"Instead of pursing issue-based politics the CM is harping on cheap personal comments…It is an insult to entire womanhood," she added.
This is not the first time Achuthanandan is courting trouble. When student leader Sindhu Joy quit the CPM to join the Congress two weeks back, he made a similar comment.
"That woman has joined the Congress when party workers are lowering their head in shame," Achuthanandan had said.
{{/usCountry}}"That woman has joined the Congress when party workers are lowering their head in shame," Achuthanandan had said.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, the Congress-led UDF is planning to make it a big poll issue of the faux pas. "It is sad he's forgotten his position and age. He shouldn't have made such a comment," Defence Minister A K Antony, the lead campaigner of the UDF, said in Kochi.
Foot-in-mouth remarks have landed the CM in trouble on many occasions. When he was turned away from martyred NGG Commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan's house in Bangalore in 2008, he had said, "If it had not been Major Sandeep's house, not even a dog would have glanced that way." Later the party had to intervene to undo the damage.