Claims by Smitha Menon, the controversial Kochi woman who had accompanied Union Minister of State for External Affairs to the Indian Ocean Rim Association Council of Ministers held at Abu Dhabi in November 2019 has created more questions.

“Menon claims that she has a masters degree in mass communications and has been working as media professional since 2007. If she had gone to Abu Dhabi to report to the media back home about the IORA meeting, why should she take the approval of the minister for the press release which she prepared?” asked Salim Madavoor, the RTI activist who is pursuing the case.

The contention of Salim is that Muraleedharan has violated diplomatic protocol by including a public relations executive in  the Indian team that took part in the IORA meeting. But the Indian embassy in UAE had informed Salim that Smitha Menon was not a member of the official Indian delegation.

It is also revealed that no media in Kerala had carried the report or release sent by Menon, who has been appointed as the general secretary of Mahila Morach’s Kerala wing since then. K Surendran, Kerala BJP chief, said in a statement on

Thursday that she was appointed as Mahila Morcha official at his instance and the minister does not have any role in it.

Surendran also said that there were some forces in Kerala who want to divert the attention of the people from the gold smuggling scam by tarnishing Muraleedharan’s name.  

A senior BJP leader told The Pioneer that Smitha Menon is the tip of the ice berg and more disclosures would be released in days to come.