In another unseemly spat with the bureaucracy in the state, CPI(M) leader and Minister for Cooperatives and Temple Affairs G Sudhakaran today declared that a senior officer who was his Principal Secretary till a week is a “criminal propped up by the mafia”. He even went on to ask the Home Minister for a Vigilance probe against the person.The minister had been slamming senior IAS man E K Bharat Bhushan in public, after the two fell out over official issues. The latter, who relinquished his post to take up a deputation to New Delhi, finally went to the media, blowing the whistle on his minister’s alleged manipulations and cover ups.The fight between the two had reached a head after Bharat Bhushan gave him an official note last November asking to be provided the report of a vigilance probe into serious corruption charges involving the Travancore Devaswom Board, which the minister kept with himself despite the officer’s requests. The note reminded the minister that delay in handing over the report for action would only help protect the guilty, and the government will have to bear the taint of supporting the corrupt, after it had declared that it would clean up the corruption in the Devaswom Board. This note was disclosed to the media on Tuesday.Sudhakaran went live on TV today alleging that the officer was the “number one criminal in the state secretariat” and that “the only reason that I don’t slap him with my footwear is because I am a minister”. For good measure, he threatened that the IAS officer had “better keep his mouth shut, or he will bear the consequences”. Bhushan said he was prepared to face any kind of probe, but would not care to respond. “My culture does not allow me to respond to the minister’s remarks,” he added.Sudhakaran’s outburst could be no surprise in Kerala. A few months ago, he had rubbed the IAS lobby the wrong way when he told a large CPI(M) rally in Kannur that one only needed to “write the three letters, IAS, on a board, and hang it around any dog’s neck”, while he was grappling with another IAS officer, heading the State Cooperative Bank.But officials apart, others too have been the target of Sudhakaran’s fulminations. The Congress in Kerala was up in arms a few days ago demanding his resignation, after he described Defence Minister A K Antony as just a “fourth rate nuisance”. A similar diatribe (which he disowned later) against Sarah Joseph, one of Kerala’s eminent writers was another.Kannada movie actor Jayamala had threatened to sue him after he proclaimed her a “mad woman” during the controversy involving the Sabarimala shrine. The Cochin Devaswom Board has been another that he heaped expletives on, though the Board officials declared that they cannot stoop to the minister’s level and respond to him. Sudhakaran had occasionally been slipping too. He had declared that the government policy was to allow women into Sabarimala, the shrine of the celibate Lord Ayyappa, which is out of bounds for women of reproductive age, causing a stir in Kerala. Soon after, the CM retorted that was only the minister’s opinion, and the Government had not taken any such decision.Who is G. Sudhakaran?Thiruvananthapuram: G. Sudhakarn is a product of the Kerala Students Federation, the state CPI(M)’s student outfit predating the SFI, under AK Gopalan’s tutelage. He became a member of the CPI(M) in 1968, and was elected to the Central executive of the SFI when it was formed in 1971. He was the SFI state president twice, State General Secretary thrice, and national vice-president once, before he outgrew it and entered the CPM ranks. He was the CPM district secretary and a close acolyte of VS Achuthanandan when he won the May 2006 Assembly poll and was made a minister. But this 59-year-old lawyer is now considered closer to the CM’s arch rival Pinarayi Vijayan, especially after the support base that VS once had in Alappuzha is now in Pinarayi’s control.
