THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy criticized Rishiraj Singh, ADGP (Armed Force Battalion), over his action of showing "disrespect" to Home minister Ramesh Chennithala by remaining seated at the passing-out parade in Thrissur on Saturday. Chandy said that the police official’s explanation for his behavior was not acceptable.
Earlier in the day at the UDF parliamentary party meeting, Congress MLAs said such incidents would convey ‘wrong signals’ which was unacceptable.
On Sunday, KPCC spokesperson Pandalam Sudhakaran was the first to raise the issue in his Facebook post followed by Congress MLA Joseph Vazhakkan too demanding action.
The CM was under intense pressure from colleagues demanding action against the police official. He said appropriate action would be taken against Rishiraj Singh who refused to acknowledge Chennithala's presence at the passing out parade.
“There are certain conventions prevalent here. This incident is not a personal issue of Chennithala, but of official matters. There will be appropriate action against Rishiraj Singh and it will be decided in due course”, said Chandy.
He said the ADGP had not only failed to salute Chennithala, but his explanation for his behavior could not be accepted.
MLAs who attended the UDF parliamentary meeting demanded that the ADGP should be suspended from service. However, Chennithala remained tight-lipped in the meeting.
It was Angamaly MLA Anwar Sadath who first raised the issue and said that the senior police official’s action could not be tolerated because it would send out ‘wrong signals’ to people.
On Sunday, DGP T. P. Senkumar had said that if the ADGP had remained sitting deliberately, then it was definitely a wrong action.
Rishiraj Singh was seated on a sofa and continued to do so and had not proceeded to welcome Chennithala or salute him. He continued to ignore the Minister even after he reached the dais and only after Chennithala left the venue, did he get up and leave.
Chennithala had said on Sunday that he had no complaint against anyone in this regard. He left the ball in the court of the DGP saying that it was his responsibility to probe if the ADGP’s behavior had violated protocol.
