She accused the persons of prurient behaviour, including sending unprompted salacious messages and soliciting sex
She accused the persons of prurient behaviour, including sending unprompted salacious messages and soliciting sex
Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the UAE diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case, has accused three top Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leaders of sexual misconduct.
Swapna, who had declared an open season on the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, levelled the politically stormy accusations in an exclusive television interview on Friday. She had singled out three top political executives in the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government, including two Ministers, for censure.
At the time of the alleged incidents, Swapna was the executive secretary to the UAE Consul General with considerable influence in the corridors of power. She accused the persons of prurient behaviour, including sending unprompted salacious messages and soliciting sex. The account of her life in the run-up to the gold smuggling case portrays the previous government as populated by exploiters and profiteers. Swapna also seeks to implicate the Chief Minister and his family in the smuggling case.
Swapna’s latest invective against the CPI(M) leadership could trigger a cultural and political reckoning over the conduct of those in power. Her accusations presaged a possible attempt by the Congress to put the government on the defensive as a tit-for-tat for the ruling front’s perceived bid to weaponise similar allegations against Opposition leaders. The CPI(M) viewed Swapna as a cat’s paw of the Sangh Parivar powers.
‘Involvement’ with RSS
It had spotlighted Swapna’s previous employment by an alleged RSS front organisation working in the tribal sector to prove her “political bias”. In the past, the CPI(M) had refused to get drawn into “hypotheticals” aired by Swapna and dismissed her claims as a subversive yarn spun at the behest of the Congress and the BJP to bombard the LDF with political shrapnel.
A Congress leader participating in a television discussion on the issue said Swapna’s “revelations” have added to the chargesheet against the LDF government and whetted the “public perception” that the law should throw the book at the present “cabal” of governing CPI(M) leaders.
