 "Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala CM")
The controversy surrounding IPS officer M R Ajith Kumar’s alleged meeting with a senior RSS leader escalated on Saturday. Photo: X@pinarayivijayan
The controversy surrounding IPS officer M R Ajith Kumar’s alleged meeting with a senior RSS leader escalated on Saturday, with a section of the media reporting that the ADGP admitted to the Chief Minister’s office that his visit was personal, drawing sharp reactions from the ruling party ally CPI and the opposition Congress.
As per media reports, Kumar, a close confidant of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, offered an explanation to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) that he had met with RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale in Thrissur last May, but clarified that it was a “personal visit”.
However, a CMO source said they “lacked clear information” about the ADGP’s explanation.
The controversy took a turn a day after ruling CPI (M) had termed as a “lie and pure nonsense” the opposition Congress’ charge that Ajith Kumar acted as a ‘middleman’ between the CM and the RSS to disrupt the iconic Thrissur Pooram festival to secure the Lok Sabha poll victory of the BJP candidate in Thrissur.
Meanwhile, the ADGP’s explanation didn’t go well with CPI, the second largest coalition partner in the LDF, which said today that the reported meeting of the top officer with the RSS leader amounted to creating doubt among the people.
CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam sounded tough about the media reports over the ADGP’s explanation and sought to know what “vijnanam” (knowledge) that the law and order ADGP had shared with the organisational leaders of Vijnana Bharathi, an RSS wing.
People of the state would naturally wonder why the ADGP met the RSS leaders and what was the reason for the secret meeting, the leader told media.
He made it clear that the LDF and RSS had nothing in common, including politics or ideology.
Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan questioned the reported explanation of the ADGP.
“What personal visit? RSS is an organisation equally opposed to the LDF and UDF. An IPS officer, under the Chief Minister, had met the national leader of such an outfit. Shouldn’t he inform the CM or the DGP before the visit?” he asked.
Muraleedharan also reiterated his allegation that the controversial meeting had links to the Thrissur Pooram in April.
He also demanded a judicial probe into the allegations.
However, the ruling CPI (M) was reluctant to give a clear reply on the ADGP’s reported explanation to the CMO and adopted a stand that the officer’s visit had nothing to do with the party.
CPI (M) state secretary M V Govindan wondered why the party should answer if the ADGP had visited someone.
“So what?” he asked when the media sought his reaction over the officer’s reported explanation.
LSGD Minister M B Rajesh said ADGP Ajith Kumar is not a CPI (M) leader.
While reporters sought his reply, the minister said the party was not aware whether the ADGP had gone to visit anyone by himself.
“The ADGP is not a CPI (M) Leader…. Everything will come under the probe… None of our leaders have ever stood with folded hands before the photo of RSS leader Golwalkar,” Rajesh added.
Govindan had on Friday said that the controversy was a false narrative peddled by the Congress to cover the actual reasons behind its poor showing in the Thrissur LS seat where it came third.
His remarks were in response to the recent remarks by Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan demanding to know if the CM had dispatched ADGP Ajithkumar, his trusted confidant, to meet with RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale in Thrissur May last year.
The meeting was intended to avoid the investigation by central agencies against the CM and to enter into a political understanding during the election, Satheesan had alleged.
Satheesan’s allegations came in the wake of a Facebook post by LDF MLA P V Anvar hinting that ADGP Ajithkumar was behind the police interventions in Pooram rituals and the subsequent controversies which had taken the sheen off the annual spectacle held in April this year.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Sep 07 2024 | 1:10 PM IST
