'No salary for last six years, central govt playing petty politics', Kannan Gopinathan with strong criticism

NEW DELHI: Former Malayali IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan strongly criticised the central government for not accepting his resignation from the civil service. The Congress had considered Kannan to contest the assembly elections from Palakkad this time. However, it met with an administrative hurdle as the central government has yet to accept his resignation. Kannan submitted his resignation letter, citing restrictions on freedom of expression after the central government revoked Kashmir's special status in 2019. At that time, Kannan was the Energy Secretary in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. He joined the Congress in October last year. Kannan Gopinathan became a Congress member at a function held at the AICC headquarters.

Kannan Gopinathan earlier said that his ‘war’ is against the wrongs committed by this government and said he found Congress to be the best alternative from his travels across India and interactions with people. There were indications at the time that his resignation was due to differences of opinion with Praful Khodabhai Patel, the Home Minister in the Gujarat cabinet and the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

In a post on X, Kannan said that he has not drawn a salary in the last six and a half years, and blamed the ambiguity for hindering his professional career. Kannan mentioned in the post that it is very unfortunate and petty to deny him his right to resign and participate in the democratic process, regardless of his political affiliation.