CPI signals that any move to appeal against special court verdict in ADGP corruption case warrants discussion in LDF

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has signalled that any move to appeal against the special court’s “damning repudiation” of the controversial Vigilance report exonerating the former Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) [ADGP] M.R. Ajith Kumar from illegal amassment of wealth charges warranted a political discussion in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF). 

Expressing serious reservations about Mr. Ajith Kumar’s conduct, CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam said the ruling alliance could ill-afford to take consequential determinations by “belittling” the party’s stated position on the matter.

Speaking to reporters in Alappuzha, Mr. Viswam said that Mr. Ajith Kumar’s “many actions were not advisable for a high-ranking officer of law.” He criticised Mr. Ajith Kumar’s “repeated clandestine intriguing” with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) top leadership.

Thrissur Pooram row

Mr. Viswam accused Mr. Ajith Kumar of spurning several calls from Revenue Minister K. Rajan to ensure that the 2024 Thrissur Pooram celebrations did not go awry. He said an entitlement mentality among certain IPS and IAS officers was inadvisable as it was anti-constitutional and anti-people.

KPCC seeks CM’s resignation

Meanwhile, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) ramped up its demand for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s resignation in the wake of the special court judgment, which, it claimed, was an incriminating indictment of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

KPCC president Sunny Joseph, MLA, told a press conference in Kannur that the unlawful decision to absolve Mr. Ajith Kumar and the Chief Minister’s political secretary P Sasi, both respondents in the corruption case, had Mr. Vijayan’s imprimatur. “The court had called out the sham of an investigation by observing that a superpower authority controlling the Vigilance had silently intruded to subvert the probe. The condemnatory observation is a unambiguous allusion to Mr. Vijayan’s subversive role in the case,“ Mr. Joseph said. 

Mr. Joseph alleged that Mr. Vijayan was constrained to shield Mr. Ajith Kumar because the officer was the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]-RSS go-between. “The officer had stacked the odds in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the Thrissur constituency by derailing the Thrissur Pooram to harness Hindu majoritarian resentment in the Sangh Parivar’s favour,” he added.