Sleaze and scandal have claimed many a political scalp in Kerala. While Rahul Mamkootathil quit as the Kerala Youth Congress president following allegations of inappropriate conduct on Thursday, the consequences had been far more disastrous for other politicians in Kerala, especially former ministers.

Right from the period of the first ministry in Kerala, the Opposition found a deadly weapon in allegations of sexual misconduct to undo opponents. Only a very few had braved the storm that followed. P K Chathan Master, who was the Minister for Local Self-Government and Harijan Welfare in the 1957 EMS-led ministry, was probably the first casualty of a sex scandal in Kerala. It was alleged that he took a woman in his car and housed her in the official residence of the Minister. The Opposition went hard at him.

Chathan clarified that it was his wife's friend, and she had come to visit the Secretariat. He even went a step further and put on an act of forthrightness; he named the woman. The Congress didn't have to scratch their heads further for slogans. They crafted plenty. One of the slogans went like this 'Chathanmantri varunundu mole, pathayathil olichodi mole' (Here comes the Chathan Minister, go hide in the granary). Political observer and mediaperson George Pulikkan recounts the incident in his book 'Thotta charithram kettitilla'.

If Congress made merry over Chathan master's alleged misconduct, soon it was the turn of the comrades. P T Chacko, the formidable Home Minister with a thick, pruned moustache and a mop of shiny hair, rammed his official car into a push cart on his way to Peechi in December 1963. Three got injured. The Minister who drove the car, allegedly didn't halt to check on the injured people. Rumours were rife that a woman with a bindi on her forehead was seen in the Minister's car.

The Opposition pummelled him with a barrage of questions in the Legislative Assembly. Chacko patiently replied to each query. He admitted that it was a state car and he drove it himself and since it wasn't an official trip, he didn't inform the police. To the question whether there was a woman in the car, he replied 'Padmam S Menon, my colleague, don't know there should be something suspicious about it'.

Padmam Menon was the KPCC executive committee member and the wife of freedom fighter K Sreedhara Menon.

In an interview with journalist and writer R K Bijuraj, Padmam would later recollect that she was asked to give a statement corroborating Chacko's claim that she was with him at the time of the accident. Padmam was prodded to back Chacko since she was in Congress leadership and being seen together with Chacko in the car wouldn't give a bad impression. Later, she revealed the name of the woman who was in the car, but nobody paid heed.

It was around the same time when the sex scandal involving a model named Christine Keeler wreaked havoc in the British government. The press in Kerala soon gave a local twist. 'Who is the Kerala Keeler?' screamed the headlines, gunning for Chacko.

As the accident row raged, Chacko gave an emotional speech in the Assembly. More than the Opposition, Chacko suffered assault from dissident groups within Congress. R Sankar, who was the Chief Minister, demanded his resignation, and Chacko quit in February 1964. Sankar and Chacko, who had once been close buddies, hurled snubs at each other. Chacko lost the KPCC president election held in June 1964. In August, Chacko died in Kozhikode. Political observers would later record that the circumstances that led to Chacko's resignation and his fallout with Sankar festered groupism, which infested Congress badly and spoiled the party's chances in the next election.

In the years that followed, many other politicians felt the heat. In the late 1990s, Kerala was rocked by the infamous ice cream parlour sex scandal. The case took a horrific turn for IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty, when veteran CPM leader V S Achuthanandan disclosed a copy of the investigation report in which the victims levelled rape allegations against Kunhalikutty. Achuthanandan had said that as per the report, the former Industries Minister Kunhalikutty was named as the first accused. The state government then gave a clean chit to Kunhalikutty and filed an affidavit in the High Court seeking the rejection of the petition filed by Achuthanandan.

In 2013, former Minister Jose Thettayil faced allegations of sexual abuse from a 30-year-old woman and the FIR was later quashed by the High Court. Kerala Congress (J) leader P J Joseph quit from the Cabinet in 2006 following an allegation that he misbehaved with a woman passenger in an aircraft. He was acquitted by a Tamil Nadu court later. In 2017, A K Saseendran resigned as the transport Minister after his alleged lewd conversation with a woman was widely circulated. A year later, he returned as the Minister. Congress veteran P J Kurien had got embroiled in the Suryanelli sex case after the victim sought inclusion of his name among the accused. The petition was later dismissed by a sessions court.