By TNC News,
Malappuram: Having decided not to go down from the demand for a fifth minister from the party, the Muslim League raised the issue strongly in the UDF meeting held yesterday also. However, the UDF has not reached a conclusion on the matter since the Kerala Congress (M) has also demanded a ministry if League was given one. The UDF will again meet on June 22.
The new confusion regarding ministries came up when the Muslim League announced the name of Manjalamkuzhi Ali, MLA of Perinthalmanna, as its fifth minister after it was decided in the UDF that the party would have four ministers only. The party has not gone down in its demand to make Ali the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, which was asserted by its high level meetings held in Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala Congress (M), which has 9 MLAs, also came up with the demand for another minister or Speaker from the party. However, the Congress has not yet got ready to concede the demands of the allies, which would increase the number of ministers to 22. The UDF yesterday decided to field senior Congress leader G Karthikeyan as its candidate for the post of Speaker. The Congress is ready to give Ali the post of Chief Whip with cabinet rank and Deputy Speaker for the KC (M), but both parties have not agreed to it.
Meanwhile, the Muslim League will decide on change in its leadership on June 5 in the state working committee meeting to be held in Kozhikode. Party general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty is the Industries Minister. The names of senior leaders ET Muhammed Basheer and KPA Majeed are heard to the post of general secretary in the place of Kunjalikkutty. Panchayat Minister Dr MK Muneer, and MLAs TA Ahmed Kabeer and Adv KNA Qader have reportedly expressed their wish to step down as state secretaries of the party. It is said that K Kutty Ahammed Kutty, PKK Bava and PMA Salam would be made secretaries in their place.
Several of the party’s MLAs presently hold important positions in the party. However, the League had decided to implement the ‘one person one rank’ policy in the party. And accordingly, the decision has been implemented in the lower levels, but is yet to be done in the higher levels.
Majority in the State Secretariat supported ET Muhammed Basheer to the post of general secretary, according to reports. The meeting also suggested that KPA Majeed could be made the secretary in charge of organisation. However, there are also reports that Mr Kunjalikkutty is in favour of KPA Majeed to the post, especially after Mr Basheer had spoken against him in an earlier meeting of the party.
Mr Basheer had criticised the stand taken by the League during the talks of government formation, in which party president went to Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam for talks, and League got only four ministers. In earlier times when Syed Muhammedali Shihab Thangal was the president, UDF leaders would come to his house in Malappuram for talks. UDF leaders also came to Thangal for solutions whenever there was any problem in the front. But this is the first time that a president of the League went to other leaders, and that too when the League had won the largest number of seats in history. While the Congress with only 38 MLAs have 10 ministers, League with 20 MLAs have only 4. The party could have demanded five, but it did not. Mr Basheer had criticised all these, and it has reportedly turned Mr Kunjalikkutty against his being the general secretary.