By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Thursday asked Home Minister P. Chidambaram to quit after the apex court quashed the appointment of Central Vigilance Commissioner and former Kerala chief secretary P.J. Thomas.
“Chidambaram should resign. With the verdict coming against the government, our stand against his appointment has come true because this was done against procedures,” Achuthanandan told reporters here.
Thomas was the Kerala chief secretary before taking over as head of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog in September.
According to Achuthanandan, who belongs to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), he was virtually forced by the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) lobby to appoint Thomas as chief secretary.
Responding to a question why he appointed Thomas to the post, the chief minister said: “I did it because when the appointment time of the new chief secretary came, a group of 27 IAS officers met me and requested that he should not be overlooked. Hence I gave in… Don’t you know these IAS people are very big people?”
The appointment of Thomas as CVC was made by a high-powered panel that included Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram. Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj was also a member but placed her opposition on record.
Thomas, a 1973 batch IAS officer, was Kerala’s civil supplies secretary in 1992 when there was a scam involving import of palm oil.