KPCC president K Sudhakaran on Sunday said that he would not be  stepping down as KPCC president and that he would continue to lead the Congress in Kerala as desired by the party high command.

Speaking to media persons in Kannur, Sudhakaran said: “I expressed my willingness to stand aside because I was accused in a case. The party’s senior leadership and the high command asked me not to resign. Hence, I have decided to continue in the position.”

Sudhakaran on Saturday expressed his willingness to resign from his post  as KPCC president in the light of his arrest in a cheating case  involving fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal.

“I won’t do anything that is detrimental to the party. If necessary, I would step aside as KPCC president. Discussions are ongoing on the matter,” Sudhakaran told media persons on Saturday.

It has been reported that Sudhakaran had not consulted anyone in  the party before making the announcement to resign to media persons on Saturday and the leadership was shocked over the development.

Following this,  Congress all-India general secretary, Tariq Anwar, contacted Sudhakaran and reportedly told that this was not the time to resign. Anwar also asked Sudhakaran to heed to the wishes of party leaders from the state and Centre to continue in his post.

Sudhakaran also said that he would be filing  defamation cases against CPI-M state secretary MV Govindan and the party’s mouthpiece ‘Desabhimani’ for his controversial remark targeting him in a POCSO case involving controversial fake-antique dealer Monson Mavunkal.

“I will be filing defamation cases within two days against CPI-M State Secretary MV Govindan and Desabhimani daily for the allegations  made by them against  me in connection with the POCSO case involving Monson Mavunkal,” he said.

CPI-M state secretary MV Govindan has alleged that  K PCC president K Sudhakaran was present at fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal’s house when a minor girl was sexually assaulted by Mavunkal. A Pocso court had  last week sentenced Mavunkal to life imprisonment for raping the girl.

Citing a report that appeared in party mouthpiece ‘Deshabhimani’ at a press conference last week , Govindan said: “The child herself has confirmed Sudhakaran’s presence at the place where she was sexually assaulted by Mavunkal. This was what I came to know from media reports. The girl has given a statement to the crime branch that Sudhakaran did not intervene to stop the crime despite her pleas.”

Govindan also claimed that even the Crime Branch has acknowledged the survivor’s statement. The agency’s summons to question Sudhakaran was in connection with the survivor’s statement.

However, in a major embarrassment for the CPI-M leader, the Crime Branch team probing the case dismissed the claims put forth by MV Govindan.

The Crime branch clarified that  the minor victim of the rape case  in which the controversial antiques dealer Monson Mavunkal was sentenced to life term  on Saturday, has not made any statement referring to KPCC chief K Sudhakaran.Sudhakaran  was named as an accused in the cheating case only, the Crime branch clarified.

Responding to Sudhakaran’s statement that he would file a defamation case against Govindan, the CPI-M state secretary  said that his statement was based on a news report and that he would face it legally.