Senior IPS officer Jacob Thomas, known for his relentless war against corruption, may continue in the position of Director of the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) as the State Government is likely to turn down his request for removal from the position for “personal reasons”.
The ruling CPI(M) on Wednesday came to the conclusion that Thomas should be retained as Vigilance chief as his departure could be counterproductive at this juncture as far as the Government’s anti-corruption image was concerned and this was conveyed to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Government also was of the same view, according to sources.
Thomas, who had on Monday said he would not give up his fight against corruption under any circumstance, had in an unexpected move submitted a letter to the Home Secretary on Tuesday expressing his wish to leave the position for personal reasons. The Home Secretary forwarded it on Tuesday itself to Pinarayi, who was expected to take a decision at the earliest.
On Wednesday, when newsmen asked him about the reason for the sudden change of mind, Thomas, holding the rank of Director General of Police, indicated his resolve to leave the Vigilance Director’s position by saying, “It is a new sky, a new earth every new day, isn’t it… I had said earlier that yesterday’s truth need not be the truth of today.”
The general perception is that he offered his resignation as Vigilance chief due to pressures exerted on him by the Opposition UDF, several leaders of which are under the agency’s lens, and also by a section in the ruling CPI(M) as senior Marxist leader EP Jayarajan, who resigned as Minister last Friday over nepotism charges, is facing a Vigilance inquiry.
Apart from this, reports appeared in a section of the Press the other day on a pending inquiry against Thomas for financial irregularities allegedly committed when he was with the Port Department nine years ago. It was after the appearance of this report that Thomas had said he would not give up his fight against corruption because of false allegations.
Former Excise Minister K Babu of the Congress facing a disproportionate assets case and accused of taking Rs10-crore bribe from bar owners and former Finance Minister KM Mani of the Kerala Congress (M) are just two of the prominent leaders in the Opposition who are sore over Thomas’s actions as the Vigilance chief.
On Wednesday, former chief minister VS Achuthanandan of the CPI(M) described Thomas as an “honest officer” who was being targeted by people like Mani and Babu, leaders “neck-deep in corruption”. “Black forces are leveling false charge against him which should be rejected with the contempt it deserves. I don’t expect the Government to accept his resignation,” he said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi held discussions on Wednesday morning with CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri and State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, both of whom had reportedly told him not to accept the Vigilance chief’s resignation. “This is a matter in which the Kerala Government has to take a decision. A correct decision will be taken,” Yechuri told newsmen.
CPI(M) sources said that the party and the Government were of the view that the measures adopted by Thomas, who was appointed as Vigilance Director immediately after the lDF came to power, had boosted the anti-corruption image of the regime and it would be huge setback for it if he left that position at this juncture.
However, terming Jacob Thomas’s move as mysterious, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala aired the suspicion that he could have opted to quit the Vigilance due to pressures from the Chief Minister over the Jayarajan affair. He also criticized Thomas by saying, “He may be a good officer but he has not completed even six months in any of the positions he has held so far.”
At the same time, observers pointed out that the Government would find itself in a spot if Thomas held fast to his decision to leave the anti-corruption agency. It is said that it will be difficult for the Government to find another officer with DGP rank, who can be considered as capable of safeguarding its anti-corruption image, to replace Thomas with.