Kerala chief minister VD Satheesan on Sunday termed the revelations made by former state chief secretary Jiji Thomson about Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar “extremely serious” and demanded that Kumar step down from his post.
Joseph shared photographs showing Thomson on the dais and speaking into a microphone. “I was the state president of the Minority Morcha at the time. A senior leader, highly respected by Sangh Parivar workers in Keralam, called me and asked me to invite Jiji Thomson to the programme.
Joseph also claimed Thomson was appointed an independent director of Cochin Shipyard after the event, a position he held from 2017 to 2020.
Former minister and UDF leader K M Mani was also present, according to the photographs. He told me that Thomson was interested in coming with us,” Joseph said. He claimed Thomson attended the event and “lavishly praised” Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union government’s initiatives.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday reiterated her demand for Kumar’s immediate resignation, alleging that he has political leanings and questioning how he could conduct fair elections. BJP leader Jiji Joseph on Sunday responded to Thomson’s claim. “We were friends at the time. He (Kumar) asked me about my post retirement plans. I could become an MP and a minister in the Union government. “In every district we have had protests against him.
That’s when he said that the best idea was to contest as a BJP candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He said that in 2017, when he was state president of the BJP’s Minority Morcha, a senior Sangh Parivar leader had asked him to invite Thomson to a Minority Morcha event in Kochi held on June 26, 2017, to honour Mar Chrysostom.
I said I had no specific plans but wanted to work in an area to shape the future of the young generation. He said that was the best way forward,” Thomson told a Malayalam news channel. Asked about Thomson’s allegation, Vadra termed it “completely illegal and unethical”. She said it showed that those at the highest levels of the election system and institutions responsible for conducting polls “have party leanings”. Asked whether Congress planned to protest against Kumar, Vadra said protests had already been held across the country. In Delhi also there were protests,” she said.
