IAS officer Divya S Iyer has sparked a political controversy with her effusive praise of KK Ragesh, the former private secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Ragesh recently stepped down from the CM’s office after being appointed the new CPI(M) District Secretary of Kannur. While Divya’s post came under scrutiny—given that Ragesh was a political appointee—both the Chief Minister and Ragesh have spoken out in her defence.
“Insisting that a woman should compulsorily share her husband’s politics or line of thinking and tastes is patriarchal and misogynist. Such archaic attitudes have no place in a modern and progressive society,” the Chief Minister said.
Divya is married into a Congress family. Her husband, KS Sabarinadhan, is a former Congress MLA from Aruvikkara, while his father, the late G Karthikeyan, was a former Speaker of the Kerala Assembly.
In her Instagram post after Ragesh resigned as the CM’s private secretary, Divya bid him farewell and wrote that even Karna would be jealous of Ragesh’s protection. Thanking him for the lessons he taught her over three years, she added, “Thank you for always considering us with utmost respect—an art that is becoming endangered in power corridors across the globe.”
Divya, currently serving as Managing Director of the Vizhinjam Port project, was criticised by both the Congress and the Youth Congress. Youth Congress Kannur district president Vijil Mohan reminded her that she was not drawing her salary from AKG Centre (the CPI(M)’s state headquarters), while Congress leader K Muraleedharan said her “servitude” to Pinarayi Vijayan would become a liability in the future.
Her husband, KS Sabarinadhan, also weighed in, saying the post could have been avoided, as officers are expected to refrain from praising political appointees.
This is not the first time Divya has praised a politician on social media. In 2024, she posted a farewell note to then Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan after he was elected MP from Alathur. That post, too, attracted criticism, but many defended her, saying there was nothing improper about acknowledging a departing minister.