KOCHI: Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will drop government counsel V Giri, who appeared in Supreme Court for Kerala in the Hadiya case on Monday, as he incurred the wrath of national leadership of ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for failing to speak for the state.

Much to the dismay of state government and ruling party leaders, the counsel agreed with lawyers of Hadiya’s father Ashokan and National Investigation Agency (NIA), and told the court that the bench should examine the documents submitted by NIA ‘to have a broader picture’, before hearing Hadiya. Though he qualified the opinion as his personal one, it ran counter to the view held by Kerala government, which wanted the court to hear Hadiya first and foremost.

The central leadership of CPIM took up the matter at an available politburo meeting at Delhi. Leaders conveyed displeasure over Giri’s statement in the court, which did not reflect official stance of LDF government. The national leaders of the party said that they wanted the counsel to be changed and they decided on this after talking to the state leadership. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is likely to take up the matter and decide to change government counsel at the Supreme Court, as the state leadership had also expressed displeasure with Giri’s ‘embarrassing’ reply. Government sources say that once he is deputed to speak for the state, he should not state his personal view but stick to the stand of the government.

Earlier state government had filed an affidavit in the apex court that the transfer of the Hadiya case to NIA was not warranted. According to the affidavit, the case does not fall under the category specified in relevant legislation which provides for transferring a case that is outside the jurisdiction of the state police, to NIA. Even when the Supreme Court suggested NIA enquiry, Kerala had registered its objection. Kerala’s disapproval of an NIA enquiry was already on record when government counsel was asking the court to examine the agency’s material.

CPIM politburo member Brinda Karat wrote that Giri’s stand needed to be rectified. Kerala government had given an additional affidavit in October stating that ‘the investigation conducted so far by the Kerala police has not revealed any incident relating to commission of any scheduled offences to make a report to the Central government under Section 6 of the National Investigation Agency Act of 2008’, Ms. Karat wrote in hard hitting article in a national daily.