Thiruvananthapuram | Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who quit the service in 2019 over the "denial of freedom of expression" to the people of Kashmir, on Wednesday alleged that the Centre has refused to process his resignation, thereby preventing him from contesting the Kerala Assembly polls.

He had joined the Congress in October last year, saying that only the grand old party can take the country in the right direction.

In a post on 'X', tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gopinathan said, "This is pure harassment and nothing else."

"Dear PM @narendramodi, just wanted to bring to your attention that your government has refused to process my resignation for 6.5 years. No salary and no release. This has stopped me from professionally moving on. And has also prevented me from contesting elections in Kerala," he said in the post.

He said that he had chosen not to raise his personal issue as he was very well aware of the kind of hardships millions were going through under the NDA rule.

"But blocking my right to resign and take part in the democratic process is pathetic and petty, whatever my political position is. Stop this pettiness and direct your lethargic government to process my resignation immediately," said Gopinathan, who was born in Kerala.