By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala’s ruling Congress Party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) plunged into a crisis of sorts yesterday after the government’s chief whip sought the resignation of a minister for his alleged liaison with a woman.

Cinema, Sports and Forests Minister K B Ganesh Kumar, a popular film actor, said the entire controversy and the resignation call were part of a conspiracy between his father R Balakrishna Paillai and Chief Whip P C George.

A local newspaper reported that the woman’s husband, a non-resident Keralite, barged into the bungalow of the minister whom it did not name, and slapped him.

George, who is at odds with the minister over his stance on forestlands, told reporters in Kottayam that he came to know on February 22 that it was Kumar who was beaten up by the woman’s husband.

“Since everybody knows about this (after the newspaper report), I thought it’s my duty to save other ministers from disgrace. The minister who got beaten up is Ganesh Kumar. Kumar should resign,” the controversial leader said.

An upset Kumar, who patched up with his estranged wife after he became a minister under A K Antony in 2006, told reporters it was unfortunate that people in responsible positions were making ‘unfounded claims.’

“I deny the allegations. No such incident happened. It’s paid news planted by them. I’m going to initiate legal action against George and file complaints with the UDF and the chief minister,” Kumar, 47, said.

The Congress Party’s state unit chief Ramesh Chennithala condemned George’s statement while opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader V S Achuthanandan refused to comment saying he had to ‘study’ the controversy.

CPM activists held demonstrations demanding Kumar’s resignation and burnt the minister in effigy.

Pillai, chairman of Kerala Congress (B), has for long been pressing for sacking his son, the lone legislator of his party, from the cabinet. Last week George inaugurated the party conclave in Aluva and expressed solidarity with Pillai who is even ready to surrender Kumar’s seat to the Congress.

Asked whether his father had any role in the controversy, Kumar said the ultimate aim of his father and George was his removal from the ministry and “they are friends and something might have happened.”

Kumar, a film actor for more than two decades, joined politics in 2001. In 2003, he made way for his father in the cabinet and won two successive elections. In 2011, he was inducted as forests and cinema minister in Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s cabinet.