By TCN News,
Thiruvananthapuram: After the tight election results which gave the UDF the majority of a mere four seats in the Assembly, the United Democratic Front led by the Congress is all set to assume power in Kerala with its 20-member ministry. Seven ministers including Chief Minister will take oath today in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Congress will have 10 ministers, Muslim League will have four and Kerala Congress (M) will have two ministers in the UDF government. Other parties in the UDF such as the Socialist Janata (Democratic), RSP (B) and Kerala Congress (B) will get one ministry each. The Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Parliamentary Affairs Minister will be decided later only. Only seven ministers are taking the oath today and the rest will take oath on May 23. The seven ministers are Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, PK Kunjalikkutty (Industries), KM Mani (Law and Finance), KP Mohanan, TM Jacob, KB Ganesh Kumar (Tourism and Youth Affairs) and Shibu Baby John.
Though the biggest win in the UDF was made by the Muslim League which increased its tally from 7 in 2006 to 20 in 2011, it will have only four ministers in the government as in the previous UDF government. There have been reports that the Muslim League would ask for five, but it is said that instead of giving five ministries in the state, party national president and central minister E Ahmed will be given cabinet rank in the UPA government. The party will get the departments of industries, education, public works and local self-government, which it had handles in the previous UDF government also.
The talks for the formation of the ministry began soon after the election results came out. The Muslim League reportedly raised demand for five ministers and the Kerala Congress (M) wanted four. Though the Congress could bring the League to four departments, Kerala Congress (M) has still not got ready to come down. The two ministers of the Kerala Congress (M) will get finance, housing, law and water resources. There are also reports that either the party might be given the Parliamentary Affairs department or its MP Jose K Mani will be given a ministry in the centre. There are also talks of giving the Assembly speaker post.
The Muslim League has already selected general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty as its parliamentary party leader. Other possible ministers of the League are Dr MK Muneer, VK Ibrahim Kunju, Manjalamkuzhi Ali and PK Abdurabb. There are also reports of different opinion within the party regarding Mr Muneer, who still is the chairman of the news channel which brought out new revelations against party general secretary in the ice-cream parlour sex scandal. Muneer is also involved in vigilance cases. However, ignoring him would also lead to new problems in the party, as there is reportedly a section in the party that supports Muneer and opposes Kunjalikkutty. There have been reports that Manjalamkuzhi Ali was offered a minister post to contest in Perinthalmanna leaving his safe haven of Mankada. VK Ibrahim Kunju, MLA of Kalamassery, can be the representative of the League outside Malappuram.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Muslim Jamat Council has asked the Congress not to include Aryadan Muhammed as the Muslim representative in the ministry. The organisation asked the party to include some Muslim leaders from the Travancore-Kochi area, ie the south. It analysed the Congress’s ignorance of Muslim leaders from Travancore-Kochi area while fielding candidates as the reason for the failure of the party. The organisation’s state general secretary Adv A Pookunju reportedly said in the press conference that Aryadan Muhammed, senior Congress leader and MLA of Nilambur, was instrumental in jeopardizing the Narendran Commission report during the last UDF government. He has no right to demand ministry in the name of the Muslim community as he doesn’t involve in any of the community’s matters, but instead speaks against the community in all matters, he added.