Sex Scandals Rock Kerala Politics

If the sexual allegations hurled at one another by political parties and their leaders are any indication, politics is degenerating in Kerala, one of the most literate States. And what better time for such innuendos than when elections are around the corner? The State will witness panchayat and civic elections this November and Assembly elections in April-May next year.

The first sizzling episode relates to a now-former Congress MLA; another one involves a CPI (M) MLA and a woman party leader. While the former is real, the latter is reported to be a concocted one. Both incidents happened in the last month or a little earlier.  

Rahul Mankoottathil was the State president of the Youth Congress. He was one of the most firebrand youth leaders the party had, both as its spokesperson and organizer. But his chats on social media with several young women almost doomed his political career. He has resigned as the Youth Congress chief, and the party has suspended him from its primary membership, though he continues to be an MLA.

It was a news anchor-turned-actor who lit the fire for the series of developments that kept Kerala politics on its toes. It was towards the end of August that Rini Ann George told the media that she had received offensive and inappropriate messages from a young politician a couple of years back. She did not name the person, but from her description, the needle of suspicion pointed towards Rahul Mankoottathil.

Though Rini had told the media that she did not see those chats as a big issue, she realized that there were several young women who had been at the receiving end of the politician. Hence, she said, she decided to go public to help those who were being ‘tortured’ by Rahul.

In the next few days, the media was awash with news of Rahul’s sexual escapades with several young women, including the news that he had asked one to get her pregnancy aborted. Across the social media platforms and TV channels, Rahul’s chats and video calls filled the space. Interestingly, the revelations were mostly made not by the ‘victims’ but by those who claimed that they had talked and listened to the distressing stories from the horse’s mouth. 

The Kerala politics was on the boil as some sleezy news was out on social media or TV channels every day. Within a couple of days, on August 21, 2025, Rahul called a press conference and announced his decision to quit as the president of the Youth Congress. There are indications that he did so after getting signals from the party leadership. Within three days, the party announced its decision to suspend him from the primary membership.

Meanwhile, the police, which often move at snail’s speed when the accused is/are from the ruling party, swung into action and registered cases against Rahul. Though there was not a single complaint against him by the ‘victims’, the police took suo motu action based on information available on the public domain, on charges ranging from stalking to harassment of women on the internet.

Interestingly, the issue divided the Kerala society into two groups – those who sought Rahul’s blood and those with a soft corner for him. The latter argued that when there is no complaint against him by any victim, what is the locus standi of the case? 

In the party too, there are two groups – one taking a hard stand seeking his resignation as MLA and the other group taking a lenient stand on the plea that his fault is one of not being cautious in his dealings with women. It is also argued that the party is split between two groups – one led by the young blood, which stands behind Rahul, and the other, a group apparently jealous of his quick rise in the party within a few years.  

The Rahul issue has exposed the double speak of the CPI(M). While the party is baying for Rahul’s blood, it has not taken any action against its own actor-turned-politician Mukesh MLA, who is facing a chargesheet in a rape case registered by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on a complaint by a female actor. There are also Ministers in the Pinarayi Government against whom cases are pending in the court. It is a case of CPI(M) ‘seeing a speck in others’ eyes but not a plank in its own eyes.’ 

The second case of ‘sexcapade’ involves a CPI(M) MLA and a woman party leader. The steamy story started circulating reportedly after a Facebook post by a Congress leader and a news report in a local newspaper. The initial report was that the MLA was caught from the house of the woman leader by her husband when he returned home after some party work. However, there was no mention of either name, but there were enough clues to identify them.   

Posts naming CPI(M) MLA K. N. Unnikrishnan and the woman party leader K. J. Shine started circulating on social media. Soon, news came repudiating the original story, with Shine herself coming out claiming innocence. It now transpires that the story was concocted, though the last word on it has not been said. Shine, who was the LDF candidate from Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency in the last general elections, has filed a complaint with the cybercrime police alleging an online defamatory campaign against her. The police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.

Tailpiece: All is fair in love and war, and elections too.