IANS/Palakkad, Kerala
Lathika Subhash of the Congress, who is Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan’s rival in the state assembly polls from Malampuzha constituency, yesterday filed two complaints against the octogenarian leader for his alleged objectionable remarks against her.Subhash, 46, filed a complaint at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer here as well as with the first class judicial magistrate.Asked about his opponent at a press conference on Tuesday, Achuthanandan said everyone knew why Subhash was “famous”.State’s Chief Electoral Officer Nalini Netto asked the Palakkad district collector to submit a report on Subhash’s complaint.Subhash also appeared before magistrate T N Varghese, and said the chief minister’s remark was tantamount to character assassination.The magistrate said the court would directly inquire into the incident.Defence Minister A K Antony said the statement was not acceptable, “especially from a chief minister.”However, Achuthanandan said that all he meant was that Subhash was known for her performance as a local body representative and an office-bearer of the Congress Party.“Now that she has lodged a case, we will see when the case comes up. I always have the highest regard and respect for women,” Achuthanandan said.“We know how to react and stop this kind of indecent behaviour in public life, especially by those who hold important offices. We are leaving it there, considering his age,” said Congress Party spokesman M M Hassan. “Do you expect him to behave like this at home?”Achuthanandan had found himself in similar rows earlier too. In 2005 on a visit to a rehabilitation camp for the tsunami victims at Alappad, he told the displaced people bluntly that their plight was because they voted for the Congress in the previous elections. He also called a much younger woman Kerala Congress legislator “a grandma”.