Ruling CPI(M), Oppn Congress continue to spar over IPS officer's meeting with RSS leaders in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: 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.

While speaking to 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.

Satheesan 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 an account in Kerala but in return they should not be harassed under the guise of investigation by the central agencies.

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".