Devotees during a procession of the Thrissur Pooram festival,
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: Inaction against an IPS officer facing serious allegations and the allegations of sabotaging the popular Thrissur pooram has put the left-front government in Kerala in a tight spot.
While pressure is mounting from with in the ruling front for taking action against additional DGP (ADGP) M R Ajthkumar, the allegation that the left-front government tried to sabotage the Thrissur pooram festival earlier this year aggravated further as a probe ordered into the allegations is remaining inconclusive even after five months.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has been maintaining silence on the matter over the last few weeks, is holding a press conference on Saturday. It has triggered speculations that the government would come out with some damage control measures.
In April the Chief Minister had ordered a probe into the disruption caused at the Thrissur pooram just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. But a query under the Right to Information Act now revealed that no inquiry took place so far. This further aggravated the allegation that the police deliberately created issues at the temple festival to help the BJP open account to the Lok Sabha from Kerala by winning the Thrissur seat.
Congress as well as CPI(M)-backed independent MLA P V Anvar had alleged that ADGP Ajithkumar played a role in it to please the BJP so as to sabotage probe by central agencies against the Chief Minister and his daughter.
CPI(M) has been maintaining that any action could be taken against the IPS officer only on the basis of an inquiry report. But, CPI, which is the second largest coalition partner of the ruling front, openly stated that the IPS officer's meeting with RSS top leaders was a political issue and hence there was no need to wait for an official level inquiry report to remove him from the key post of ADGP (law and order).
With the government ordering a vigilance probe against Ajithkumar on Thursday, the government is under more pressure to take action against the IPS officer.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress alleged that the government wanted to hush up many illegal acts like sabotaging the smooth conduct of Thrissur pooram. Hence Ajithkumar was being protected