LDF convenor seeks answers over IPS officer's meeting with senior RSS leader

Thiruvananthapuram: The controversial meeting between senior IPS officer M R Ajith Kumar and a senior RSS leader last year continues to cause ripples in Kerala politics, with ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) convenor T P Ramakrishnan demanding a detailed examination into its cause and intention.

A senior CPI(M) leader, Ramakrishnan said the ADGP himself had admitted that he had met the right wing leader.

"So, why did he go? What was the intention (of the meeting)? These things should be examined in detail," he told the media.

Pointing out that a government-level probe is already being carried out into the allegations, the CPI(M) leader said all aspects of the issue are expected to come out in the investigation.

"If the officer is found as the culprit, the government will initiate stringent action against him. The stand of the LDF and the government is well clear in this regard," Ramakrishnan added.

Asked about LDF MLA P V Anvar raising serious allegations against the ADGP through a series of press conferences, the leader said he is not a CPI(M) member and so the party has limitations to control his independent stand and actions.

"Anvar is a MLA who is cooperating with the LDF. In the present political scenario, we cannot tell him anything against his independent stand or ask him to act in a particular manner," he said.

The leader, however, said it is Anvar who should examine whether what he had done was right.

Meanwhile, CPI (M) central committee member A Vijayaraghavan said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is not a person who supports any kind of malpractice.

The party comrades are in the government and an investigation has already been progressing into the allegations, he said.

He also accused the media of creating unnecessary controversies over the matter.

While talking to reporters in New Delhi, senior Left leader and Finance Minister K N Balagopal sought to downplay the row and said no one can take a stand that an officer cannot meet anyone.

"An officer meeting people is a normal thing. We cannot take a stand that they cannot talk to anyone. The government is already examining the matter," he said.

Meanwhile, a section of the media reported that besides RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, ADGP Ajith Kumar had also met RSS leader Ram Madhav in the state capital recently.

An official confirmation is yet to come on the reports.

A war of words between the ruling CPI(M) and opposition Congress had erupted in Kerala over the meeting of Ajith Kumar with the RSS leader, with the Left party rejecting the latter's charge that the official went as a messenger of Chief Minister Vijayan.

As per media reports, Kumar, a close confidant of Vijayan, offered an explanation to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) that he had met with RSS General Secretary Hosabale in Thrissur last May, but clarified that it was a "personal visit".