In a brazenly sexist remark which he sought to subsequently dress up as a comment on Congress culture, former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Cherian Philip, currently a CPM fellow traveller, said in a Facebook comment on Sunday that"several women have disrobed themselves in secret and won seats in the Congress in the past." Women leaders cutting across party lines reacted strongly to Philip's comment. Mahila Congress leaders Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman said the remarks were an "insult" to all women. Krishna said they were also contemplating legal action against him. CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP and AIDWA leader T N Seema demanded that Philip withdraw the remarks immediately and apologise to the women community. Initially, an unrepentant Philip warned that if pushed further he would back his allegation with intimate details. "If I start revealing things then many Congress leaders will lose their face," he said. "The truth cannot be covered up if I publicly apologise. When A K Antony was KPCC president and K M Sudheeran was vice president I was secretary of KPCC. I have not made public the exploitation by Congress leaders which is well known to even Sudheeran," he wrote in Facebook.
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