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Kerala IAS officers withdraw mass leave plan after CM Vijayan’s tough talk
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan told a delegation of IAS officials that the government will not tolerate any move to weaken it.
IAS officers in Kerala, who had threatened to go on mass leave over alleged victimisation by the vigilance department, withdrew their plan on Monday after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked them to fall in line.
Vijayan told the officials that they cannot browbeat an elected government in this manner. The government will not tolerate any move to weaken it, he told the delegation of IAS Officers Association that called on him at his office.
“An emotional outburst is understandable, but it should not cross the limit of prudence and tradition. This is not the first time IAS officers are coming under the lens,” he told them bluntly.
The delegation tried to reason with the CM that it was not a move against the government but against the vigilance chief Jacob Thomas, but he refused to buy their logic.
The officials then informed the chief secretary that they would withdraw their mass leave plan and join duty immediately.
In probably the first instance of its kind in the country, all IAS officials of the state, except district collectors, on Saturday decided to go on mass leave to express displeasure over being allegedly “victimised” by vigilance chief Thomas, an IPS officer who has been at loggerheads with the IAS officials.
His decision to charge additional secretary (industry) Paul Antony in a nepotism case involving former minister E P Jayarajan sparked the mass leave plan.
Read: Kerala IAS officers plan mass leave to protest ‘victimisation’ by vigilance chief
