Ruling CPI M Cong continue to spar over ADGP-RSS leader meeting in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 8 (PTI) The war of words between the ruling CPI (M) and opposition Congress continued over the meeting of top IPS officer Ajith Kumar with an RSS leader last year, with the Left party rejecting the latter's charge that the official went as a messenger of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

A day after Kumar claimed that his meeting with RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale was 'personal', CPI (M) state secretary M V Govindan said on Sunday that the officer's meeting with anyone was not a matter of concern for the Marxist party.

Accusing the media of creating controversies over the matter, the Leader said the CPI (M) has no role in it.

"The ADGP's meeting with anyone is not a matter of concern for us. The opposition leader's allegation that he had went to meet the RSS leader on behalf of the CM was just nonsense... that I have already made it clear," he told reporters here.

There is no need to link officers' meeting to the CPI(M), he said adding that everyone in the state was well aware of the stand of the Left party towards the BJP.

However, the Congress party seemed unconvinced with the CPI (M)'s attempt to distance itself from the ADGP's controversial meeting with the RSS General Secretary in Thrissur last year.

Addressing reporters at Ranni in Pathanamthitta, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan alleged that Ajith Kumar had met Hosabale with a "political message" from the CM.

He said he had first revealed the details of the controversial meeting last week after verifying the information multiple times.

Satheesan rejected the CPI (M)'s stand that they had nothing to do with the the top officer's action.

"The CPI (M) now justifies that the ADGP had met the RSS leader on his own. For what personal matter that the ADGP in charge of the law and order of the state had met the RSS leader?" he asked.

He alleged that Hosabale was a leader who had demanded that there should be no minority rights in the country and the CM had sent his close confidant officer to meet such a person.

It has now become clear that there was no point in the pro-secularism campaign by the Marxist party, he said.

The Congress leader also said he had never said that the ADGP had met the RSS leader to disrupt Thrissur Pooram.

The CM had conveyed through the ADGP that the ruling party could help the BJP open its account in Kerala but in return they should not be harassed under the guise of investigation by the central agencies, the LoP further charged.

While the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a coalition partner in the opposition UDF, urged Chief Minister Vijayan to break his silence over the matter, UDF Convenor M M Hassan described the reluctance of the CM and the CPI (M) to give a clear explanation on the issue as "ridiculous".

"These developments were unprecedented in the history of the state's politics. So, it is better for the CM to break his silence on the matter and explain the facts to the people of the state,' IUML veteran P K Kunhalikutty said.

Meanwhile, LDF MLA P V Anwar, who raised serious charges against Ajith Kumar, on Sunday continued to criticise him and repeatedly called him a "notorious criminal".

"I am saying with all responsibility that he is a notorious criminal. Kerala will surely see that he is a notorious criminal if the investigating officers (who probe the allegations against him) carry out an honest probe," he told media in Malappuram.

He also alleged that the the IPS officer has applied for leave now to destroy evidence against him.

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".

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)