Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Binoy Viswam conferred with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] counterpart M.V. Govindan at the AKG Centre on Wednesday evening.
A CPI insider said the meeting was scheduled earlier. However, the closed-door conclave assumed some political import amid the CPI’s public demand to remove Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, M.R. Ajith Kumar from his post.
CPI and Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition had recurrently accused Mr. Ajith Kumar of secretly parleying with the top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leadership and scuttling the Thrissur Pooram to advantage the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by stoking Hindu resentment in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Independent legislator from Nilambur in Malappuram P. V. Anvar who acrimoniously broke ways with Mr. Vijayan and the CPI(M) leadership over Mr. Ajith Kumar’s continuation in office, among other political reasons, also accused the ADGP of using law enforcement to vilify the residents of his district by attempting to link the region to hawala and gold smuggling rackets.
The reportedly 40-minute meeting unfolded a day before the State Police Chief’s (SPC) deadline for submitting the findings of the top-level inquiry against the ADGP expired.
Dropped hints
Moreover, the CPI had dropped sufficient hints that the government might find the going tough when the Assembly convenes on October 4.
Mr. Vijayan had repeatedly maintained that the government would only act on facts, not speculations and wild charges.
However, the Chief Minister’s staunch position on the controversies centred around the ranking officer was the prime factor in Mr. Anvar abandoning the LDF and considering launching a new party to counter what he termed the symbiotic association between the Opposition and ruling front leadership in the State.
Published – October 02, 2024 09:07 pm IST
