Malappuram/Thiruvananthapuram | Left MLA P V Anvar on Wednesday resumed his attack on the ruling LDF government, terming as a "joke" a probe reportedly ordered by it into ADGP M R Ajithkumar's meeting with an RSS leader last year.
Anvar's comments came days after he announced a temporary halt to his public statements on the matter.
He also sought the dismissal of the ADGP, a close confidante of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, from the service, alleging the IPS officer was a "notorious criminal" who was also responsible for disrupting the Thrissur Pooram festivities this year.
The opposition Congress too took a similar stance in targeting the Left government and CM Vijayan and termed the probe into the ADGP-RSS leader meeting as a "farce".
On the other hand, the ruling CPI(M) in the state asked Anvar to stop making such public statements, saying it gave the opposition parties and the right wing media ammunition to malign the government and the party.
Earlier in the day, amidst news reports that the state DGP has ordered a probe into the controversial meeting on the directions of Vijayan, Anvar told reporters in Malappuram that an investigation into the matter was "the biggest joke".
"As far as I am concerned, there is no need for an investigation into that. Everyone in the state knows that he (Ajithkumar) is on very good terms with the RSS. So, what is the need for a probe into it. It is true."
"This probe can be seen as the biggest joke of 2024. That is my opinion," the MLA from Nilambur assembly constituency said.
Intensifying his attack on the ADGP, Anvar said the IPS officer was also responsible for the police interventions during the Thrissur Pooram rituals this year which took the sheen off the annual spectacle held in April this year.
"He (Ajithkumar) led the interventions. There is no argument on that issue," he said.
Anvar further said that the ADGP should be dismissed from service.
"I had earlier said that he should be removed from the post. Then I said he should be suspended. Now, I want him to be dismissed," the Nilambur MLA said.
Anvar said that the ADGP was not fit to be in the police department. "That is the truth. Everyone knows it. He is a notorious criminal."
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan said in a statement that the probe was ordered 21 days after the Left party argued that there was no harm in ADGP meeting the RSS leader as the police officer was not a party member.
The Congress leader said the probe has been ordered to deceive the public and quell their anger.
Satheesan alleged no action was being taken against Ajithkumar as he met the RSS leader as "an envoy" of the CM and therefore, Vijayan was also involved in it.
He also alleged Pooram was disrupted according to a plan made by the ADGP who was present in Thrissur when it happened.
Later in the day, the CPI(M) categorically asked the Nilambur MLA not to make such statements publicly.
The party's state secretary M V Govindan, addressing the press after CPI(M) state secretariat meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, said that once he lodged the complaints with the government and the party, Anvar should not have made these statements.
"The government has registered cases based on his allegations and the party is also looking into the allegations raised by him. But he continued to make public statements that were used by the right wing parties and media to defame the government and the party. So the CPI(M) secretariat is of the opinion that he should stop," Govindan said.
The CPI(M) state secretary also gave a clean chit to political secretary of the CM, saying the allegations raised against P Sasi by the MLA are not 'prima facie believable.'
Towing the same line as the Kerala CM, Govindan also sharply attacked a section of the media, which he said has been working with an agenda to defame the LDF government in Kerala, at the expense of the welfare of survivors of Wayanad landslide.
Referring to the stories done by a section of the media with regard to an estimate submitted by the government to the Center seeking financial help for relief and rehabilitation work, Govindan said the estimates submitted were wrongly portrayed as actual expenses and publicised widely.
"It was not an unintentional mistake by a section of the media, but a well planned agenda to stop the central aid that is due to the state in the wake of the disaster," Govindan claimed.