The Youth Congress has filed a complaint against Vizhinjam Port MD, Divya S Iyer, IAS, for praising Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary, K K Ragesh, after he was elected as the CPI-M Kannur district secretary.

The complaint was filed by Youth Congress Kannur district president Vigil Mohan. In his complaint, Vigil Mohan alleges that Divya Iyer’s social media post praising K K Ragesh, who was elected as the CPI-M Kannur district secretary, constitutes a violation of service rules, and has demanded action.

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The complaint further states that the social media post breaches the political neutrality that IAS officers are required to maintain. It has been submitted to the Chief Secretary and the Central Director of Public Grievances.

Addressing a press conference in Kannur on Friday, Vigil Mohan said that Divya had expressed a purely political opinion, and added that she should have resigned from her IAS position and joined the CPI-M if she wished to make such statements. In that case, he said, they would not have raised any objection.

Divya S Iyer has sparked controversy with her effusive praise of K K Ragesh, the former private secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was recently elected as the CPI-M Kannur district secretary.

In her social media post, Divya stated that even Karna (from the Mahabharata) would become jealous of Ragesh’s loyalty and protection of the Chief Minister. She added that she had learned many lessons from Ragesh during the past three years and described him as a hardworking individual.

“Thank you for always treating us with utmost respect — an art that is becoming endangered in power corridors across the globe,” she wrote.

Earlier, in a social media post, Vigil Mohan reminded Divya that she was not drawing her salary from the AKG Centre (the CPI-M state headquarters).

Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan opined that Divya was among the officers who demonstrated undue servitude to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, warning that such actions could harm her career in the future.

Youth Congress leader and former MLA K S Sabarinadhan, who is also Divya S Iyer’s husband, criticised her remarks, stating that she could have avoided making them.

Sabarinadhan said his wife was working diligently for the government, and though her post was made with good intentions, it was inappropriate.

“It is the duty of an officer to support the government, but praising a person appointed to a political post is different,” he said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan defended Divya S Iyer, saying her Instagram post should be seen in the context of deep-rooted male chauvinism.

“As a government employee, she spoke her mind. She is being criticised for expressing a view different from her husband’s political stance. Her innocence should be seen in that light,” he said.

Senior CPI-M leader A K Balan strongly condemned the cyberattacks against Divya. Several senior CPI-M leaders, including E P Jayarajan and K K Shailaja, also came out in support of Divya for her social media post.