For VS, survival matters, not obligations

With
his act of condemning K Suresh Kumar IAS for his statement on Sunday
that the Chief Minister was not getting the necessary support from his
own office, Achuthanandan has proved his affinity to survival without
any scruple over his inability to take care of the people who make
sacrifices for him, observers say. They point out that Achuthanandan is
a true politician in this sense, who does not attach much importance to
emotional values in cases of survival.

Faced with the necessity
of saving own skin, Achuthanandan on Wednesday declared in the Assembly
that he had no relations with Suresh Kumar and that the IAS officer was
not even attached to his office. Suresh Kumar got this reward for his
very statement intended at saving Achuthanandan in the Darwinian
struggle for existence in the CPI(M), of which he was a Polit Bureau
member.

Suresh Kumar himself had stated that he had worked in
close association with Achuthanandan from his days in the office of the
State Lotteries as its director. He had become one of the targets of
the neo-liberalist group in the CPI(M) for his efforts to support
Achuthanandan in moments of crisis. For this reason, he was even
accused by the CPI(M) faction led by State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan
of being part of a syndicate working against the interests of the
Marxist party.

When Achuthanandan, with the consent of the
entire Cabinet, launched the Mission Munnar anti-encroachment drive,
the blue print for the operation was finalised under the leadership of
Suresh Kumar. For the same reason, Achuthanandan had personally picked
up the IAS officer as Special Officer for the mission, to be assisted
by the other blue-eyed boy of the Chief Minister, Inspector General of
Police Rishiraj Singh.

True to the saying in the CPI(M) that
the octogenarian leader is a hardliner communist who attached no values
to personal relations or obligations, Rishiraj Singh lost all
importance in the State affairs once Mission Munnar operation met an
inevitable death in the face of stiff opposition from the Chief
Minister’s own CPI(M) and the LDF ally, CPI.

Suresh Kumar had
become the hero of entire Kerala with his bold actions in Munnar of
razing to ground the big tourism business centres of large-scale
encroachers who were highly influential persons, something the people
had thought was impossible. It was during this time that Achuthanandan
had pronounced his famous statement that he did not care whether the
cats in Munnar were black or white but the only thing that mattered was
whether they were catching mice.

But once the smooth and bold
mission got stumbled on court cases and protests from the CPI and
Idukki district leadership of the CPI(M), which complained that Suresh
Kumar had overstepped his brief, Achuthanandan had no problem in
sacrificing those efficient cats. After that it took a long time for
Suresh Kumar to get a chair.

And when he got that chair, it
was under one of the fiercest anti-Achuthanandan warriors in the
CPI(M), Cooperation Minister G Sudhakaran. It was this Minister himself
who wrote a strong letter recommending action against Suresh Babu for
overstepping his limits as IAS officer by getting involved in political
scandals even when he was sitting in the chair of managing director of
the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank under the Cooperation
department. As was expected of him, Achuthanandan had no problem in
acting as Sudhakaran had desired.

Observers point out that
Achuthanandan was left with no choice but to allow the Chief Secretary
to proceed against Suresh Kumar, because there was ‘some’ violation of
the code of conduct of a civil servant in his act on Sunday of talking
to the Press on matters with heavy political substance. But they also
say that the Chief Minister, if he had really cared for the IAS
officer, who had helped him to become the icon of justice in entire
Kerala when he was Opposition leader which helped him become Chief
Minister, he could have avoided some of the statements he made in the
Assembly on Wednesday.

However, those who know Achuthanandan
closely say that it would be idiotic to expect anything like that from
the octogenarian communist. They point out that when his supporters had
fallen victims to the calculated strategies of the neo-liberalist group
in the party, he had not moved even a finger to save them. MR Murali of
Shoranur, TP Chandrasekharan of Orkatteri, Kozhikode, KM Shajahan of
Thiruvananthapuram, etc are examples of this, they say.

2)


CM condemns Suresh

PNS | Thiruvananthapuram

Caught
under serious political and administrative pressures, Chief Minister VS
Achuthanandan dumped his blue-eyed boy, IPS official K Suresh Kumar,
who had been his personal adviser for at least past five years and
spoke against him in the Assembly.

Achuthanandan was forced to
disown his close confidante following the Opposition onslaught on him
in connection with Suresh Kumar’s devastating revelations on Sunday
that the Chief Minister’s private secretary had hidden vital files from
Achuthanandan. Chief Secretary PJ Thomas had on Tuesday asked Suresh
Kumar to show cause for his statement within 14 days.

Replying
to the notice for an adjournment motion from KM Mani of the Kerala
Congress (M), Achuthanandan told the Assembly that the allegations
levelled by Suresh Kumar were baseless and illogical. He said that the
IAS officer was not his additional secretary (as believed by a large
section) but he was only an additional secretary in the office of his
secretary.

What Suresh Kumar had told newsmen on Sunday did not
have any relation with the facts about his office, Achuthanandan said.
The IPS officer, who had stood by Achuthanandan in every crisis, told
the Press that Chief Minister’s private secretary S Rajendran, who was
also a member of the CPI(M) State committee, had kept several important
files including those on the Smart City project and the Kiliroor sex
scandal hidden from the Chief Minister.

Suresh Kumar said that
Rajendran and KN Balagopalan, the Chief Minister’s political secretary,
had been acting in total disregard of the LDF Government’s policy
decisions. He also said that the Chief Minister had never had a support
system in his own office.

Suresh Kumar’s outburst had come
after Rajendran alleged in the CPI(M) State committee meeting that the
Chief Minister was in the clutches of a coterie and the ‘finding’ by a
party committee that Suresh Kumar had even accepted bribe to sabotage
the Mission Munnar anti-encroachment operation that he himself had
headed.

Moving the notice for the adjournment motion, Mani said
the Chief Minister should comment on the allegation that he was not
getting support from his own office.

He pointed out that even
Cabinet decisions were sabotaged by the Chief Minister’s staff. This
amounted to a serious Constitutional problem and that there was an
administrative crisis in the State.

Following the reply from the
Chief Minister, Speaker K Radhkarishnan denied permission for the
adjournment motion. Protesting against this, the entire Opposition
walked out of the House. Addressing the media after the walkout, Mani
said that the Chief Minister had lost control over the State
administration.

Rajendran had told the State committee of the
CPI(M) that a coterie of outside individuals, working from Cliff House,
the officials residence of the Chief Minister, was controlling him.

This
coterie was alleged to have included people like Suresh Kumar,
Achuthanandan’s ex-officio IT adviser Joseph C Mathew and former
partyman KM Shajahan. Balagopalan, who was also a State committee
member, submitted that he could not be held responsible for the
happenings in the Chief Minister’s office.

Suresh Kumar told the
media that he had seen several vital files gathering dust for months on
the table of Rajendran in the Chief Minister’s office. He referred to
particular cases like the missing of the important files on Smart City
project and the Chief Minister’s recommendation for a high-level CBI
probe into the Kiliroor sex sandal case in which a ‘VIP’ from the
CPI(M) was alleged to have been involved.

The necessity for
Achuthanandan to condemn Suresh Kumar came after the outburst of the
IAS officer was raised as an issue of violation of civil service rules
in a letter forwarded to him by Cooperation Minister G Sudhakaran, a
CPI(M) leader known to oppose Achuthanandan in the party. The State
Chief Secretary also was unable to avoid demanding an explanation from
Suresh Kumar.

K Suresh Kumar suspended

PNS | Thiruvananthapuram

K
Suresh Kumar IAS, managing director of Agricultural and Rural
Development Bank, was on Wednesday suspended from service for his
statement on Sunday criticising the Chief Minister’s private secretary
and political secretary.

The decision to suspend Suresh Kumar
pending enquiry was taken by the State Cabinet at its meeting on
Wednesday evening. Earlier, he had been asked by the Chief Secretary to
furnish an explanation for his conduct in two weeks.

The meeting
observed that Suresh Kumar had committed serious violation of
discipline as a civil servant with his statement which was termed as a
direct intervention in political affairs. Chief Minister VS
Achuthanandan supported the general feeling in the Cabinet that Suresh
Kumar should be suspended for his act.

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