Kerala CM defends chief secy Tom Jose

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday justified Chief Secretary Tom Jose for the article the latter wrote on Maoists, published on a daily on Tuesday.

Vijayan told the Assembly that even as the chief secretary did not sought permission to write the article, what was expressed in the article were only Tom's personal opinions.

Moreover, it did not affect the government actions on the killings of Maoists in anyway.

Meanwhile, Kanam Rajendran, state secretary of the CPI, which is a key coalition partner of the ruling Left Front, maintained that Tom's article amounted to contempt of court as a judicial review of the killing of Maoists was pending.

In the article, Tom maintained that Maoists' acts were terrorism and there was no rationale in stating that Maoists got same human rights as normal citizen.