The controversy generated by the Congress, CPI and Muslim League over the meeting between M R Ajith Kumar, the additional director general of police (ADGP) and Dattatreya Hossabole, the RSS general secretary  is much ado about nothing, according to veteran police officers.

As on date the CPI, an ally of the ruling CPI(M), Congress, the main opposition party and the all powerful Muslim League which is the A team of the Congress have unleashed severe criticism against Ajith Kumar for meeting the RSS leader during the latter’s trip to Kerala.D Satheeshan, Leader of the Opposition and who is the chief minister-in-waiting has asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to make public the reason for the meeting between Ajith Kunar, who is a close confidante of the chief minister and the RSS leader.

But senior intelligence officers and IPS officers say this is a diversionary tactic by the parties mentioned above who have their own agendas.

“I do not think the ADGP would have met the RSS leader without the concurrence of the chief minister who is in charge of the department of home. Had it been not like that Ajith Kumar would have been transferred out of his office long back. It is for the chief minister to decide whether details of such meetings should be made public,” said a senior intelligence officer.

An officer in the ministry of home affairs pointed out that such meetings are quite normal.

“The officers meet leaders of various organizations as part of policing and intelligence gathering as part of their job. If the ADGP had met a terrorist, it would be a serious mistake. But the person whom Ajith Kumar met is the second in command of a national entity and  the ADGP has every right to call on the person as part of his job. Is there any ban on such a meeting? We need to talk to people representing a cross section of the society,” said the officer. Both the officers spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity.

Satheeshan was in the news recently in connection with the Me Too charges made by Simi Rosebell John, a Congress leader. She had told the media that she was relegated in party hierarchy because of her refusal to yield to the demands of Satheeshan. Simi has since been ousted from the primary membership of the party.  The CPI and Muslim League’s criticism of the Ajith Kumar-RSS leader meet has a lot to do with the evolving political alignment in the LDF and the UDF led by the CPI(M) and the Congress respectively.