Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday distanced himself from media reports claiming that senior Congress leader and Kannur MP K Sudhakaran had convened a meeting under the banner of "Operation Toofan".
Chennithala said he had no knowledge of the reported meeting and asserted that only police authorities are authorised to convene official meetings under the state's anti-narcotics drive.
"Do you think the Home Department would convene such a meeting? I don't know anything about it. I don't know whose meeting it was or who convened it. Official meetings of Operation Toofan are called only by senior police officers with the knowledge of higher police authorities," he told reporters here.
He said the district police chief or city police commissioner would necessarily be part of any official meeting held under Operation Toofan. "Please do not attribute unofficial meetings to Operation Toofan," the minister said.
According to a section of the media, the meeting allegedly convened by Sudhakaran included persons facing criminal cases and known gang leaders, who were asked to cooperate with the government's anti-drug campaign.
The Congress leadership in Ernakulam also reportedly clarified that the meeting allegedly convened by Sudhakaran was not organised with its knowledge.
Sudhakaran has not responded to the controversy so far.
Operation Toofan is the Kerala government's statewide anti-narcotics campaign led by the Home Department and Kerala Police to crack down on drug trafficking and substance abuse through coordinated enforcement and awareness programmes.
