Kerala Congress expels Simi Rose Bell John over ‘derogatory remarks’ against party’s women leaders

Kerala Congress on Sunday expelled its senior leader Simi Rose Bell John from primary membership for her alleged derogatory remarks against women leaders of the party in an interview with a private TV channel, news agency ANI reported.

The announcement was made in a press release by the Congress Kerala unit General Secretary M Liju, which stated that the KPCC President K Sudhakaran had “expelled former AICC member and PSC member Simi Rose Bell John from the primary membership of the party.”

Kerala Congress, in a release, said John's accusations were aimed at mentally harassing and defaming lakhs of women leaders and workers in the Congress movement, allegedly in collusion with political adversaries.

"Women leaders from the KPCC Political Affairs Committee, KPCC office bearers, and Mahila Congress State President, among others, had jointly requested the KPCC leadership to take action against her," the release read.

The release further said that the KPCC was convinced that John's actions constituted a serious breach of discipline, which led to disciplinary action.

KPCC chief K Sudhakaran

Meanwhile, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran has said that the party will investigate a complaint filed by the Mahila Congress against Simi Rose Bell John.

"Mahila Congress has filed a complaint against Simi Rose Bell John's allegations. Simi made bad remarks against the leaders. Her allegations are baseless. KPCC will investigate the complaint filed by Mahila Congress," Sudhakaran said.

Simi Rose Bell John's reaction

In her reply to the charges by the Congress, Simi Rose Bell John in a news conference in Kochi lashed out at the Congress saying, "Recently a person who worked for this party for long time was expelled, the reason was that his person conspired with CPI(M) but there is no evidence, if they have it, they should make it public. The state President of Mahila Congress Lathika Subash has shared her pain with me...she was also expelled it, you can guess the reason. K Karunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal was also insulted and expelled, she even posted about it...in this party, women with self-respect won't be able to work...I was also expelled from the party...the only mistake I made was I became the voice of the women here...if I conspired with CPI(M) they should prove it. They tried to stomp upon a helpless widow like me...VD Satheesan is not scared of anyone...so many people who were with me are in different posts now. I feel now scared to walk on the road, anything can happen to me".