Former Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson has alleged that CEC Gyanesh Kumar suggested in 2016 that he (Thomson) join the BJP after retiring from the civil service and contest the Lok Sabha elections on the party’s ticket from Pathanamthitta.“It was not an offer but a friendly suggestion. I was serving as the Chief Secretary of Keralam and was nearing the end of my career when, on a flight to Delhi, Kumar asked about my retirement plans. I said I had no such plans whatsoever. It was at this point that he suggested I could contest from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency for the BJP,” he told a TV channel.Thomson said the suggestion was made in 2016 during a flight to New Delhi, when both he and Kumar were serving in the government service. He claimed Kumar told him that he could become a Union Minister if he won. Thomson said he rejected the proposal, saying he had no interest in entering electoral politics.He said he was particularly surprised that such a suggestion came from Kumar while he was himself serving as a senior government official.A 1980-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, Thomson served as chief secretary from January 2015 to February 2016 before retiring from the IAS.Thomson had also been approached by political leaders in the past to enter electoral politics. In 2021, he said the Congress leaders had suggested that he contest the Assembly elections from Vattiyoorkavu, but he turned down the proposal.Meanwhile, BJP leader Jiji Joseph on Jattvibeday claimed that the former bureaucrat wanted a bigger role. “I was the state president of the Minority Morcha at the time. A senior leader, highly respected by Sangh Parivar workers in Keralam, called me and asked me to invite Thomson to the programme. He told me that Thomson was interested in coming with us,” the BJP leader said.Joseph said he then invited Thomson, who attended the event and “lavishly praised” Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre’s initiatives.Joseph further claimed that after attending the BJP programme, Thomson was appointed an independent director of the Centre-owned Cochin Shipyard, a post he held from 2017 to 2020. “I suspect that he had wanted an even bigger position,” Joseph said.He ended his post with a dig at Thomson, saying, “Kittatha munthiri pulikkum” (grapes that one cannot get taste sour) and wished the former chief secretary well.