Saritha Nair, who accused Congress leaders of sexual misconduct, to contest from Wayanad against Rahul Gandhi

Solar scam prime accused, Saritha S Nair, announced that she will contest elections against Rahul Gandhi from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. Nair, who has accused several top Congress leaders of sexual misconduct, said on Wednesday she will contest the polls as an Independent candidate as her repeated pleas to Rahul to take action against these leaders went unheard. Nair is contesting the polls against Rahul as a mark of protest, she said. [caption id=“attachment_1327275” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Saritha Nair. PTI[/caption] She is also fighting in Ernakulam against Hibi Eden of the Congress, whom she had accused of molestation. Nair had told  The Indian Express, that she was not contesting the elections to win a seat, neither does she have any desire to become an MP. She said she was contesting to unmask the hypocrisy of political parties when it comes to women’s issues. “I’m not contesting to become an MP or sit in the Lok Sabha. I’m fighting the elections to mock and shame those who have criminal charges levelled against them. I have always been labelled as a cheater. But how are these leaders, who have committed crimes against women, which are far serious than financial crimes, allowed to contest elections?” she said. Nair claimed that she approached Rahul several times and wrote many letters requesting him to drop the leaders in his party who are accused of sexual misconduct. “As the man wanting to become the prime minister of the country,” she said, “he should have responded to a woman’s grievances.” Nair is named in 30 odd cases of cheating in the solar scam. The solar scam case surfaced when Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan were arrested in 2013 on charges of cheating numerous investors who paid money for solar panels. Over 30 cases of cheating against Nair and Radhakrishnan are registered in various courts. Police estimate that they cheated investors to the tune of over Rs 6 crore. Nair later revealed that she was sexually abused by Congress leaders in the garb of helping her with her business. Congress denied the charges and called the charges politically motivated and baseless. In 2017, a judicial commission which probed the scam submitted a report saying that top Congress leaders in the state purchased contracts and gave out subsidies to Nair’s firm in return for bribes and sexual favours. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy has also been named in the report. PP Suneer of Communist Party of India and Thushar Vellappally, president of BJP-ally Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BJDS) are the other key candidates from Wayanad. _Click here to read latest updates on Lok Sabha Elections 2019_