Thiruvananthapuram: With the LDF reaching a consensus on having a 19 member Cabinet, the CPM finalised its list of ministers with all Secretariat members who contested the elections other than M.M. Mani being included in the list of ministers. This was decided at the CPM state secretariat meeting on Sunday. The lists of CPM ministers have to be ratified by the CPM state committee on Monday.
The CPM would have 12 ministers including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The LDF meeting which was also held on the day, decided to give 12 Cabinet berths to the CPM, four to the CPI and one each to the Janata Dal (S), NCP and Congress (S). RSP faction led by Kovoor Kunjumon and Kerala Congress (B) member K.B. Ganeshkumar which has one MLA each will not have a berth in the Cabinet.
Apart from this, the CPM will be given the Speaker’s post while the CPI will take the Deputy Speaker's post. The portfolios of LDF ministers who would be sworn in on Wednesday will be decided in the morning that day. The LDF meeting decided to avoid extravaganzas during the swearing in ceremony. It also decided to introduce financial discipline by restricting the number of personal staff to 25 at the maximum.
The CPM ministers are Secretariat members E.P. Jayarajan, Dr Thomas Issac, A.K. Balan, K.K. Sailaja, G. Sudhakaran, and T.P. Ramakrishnan, State Committee members Kadakampally Surendran, J. Mercy Kutty Amma and A.C. Moidneen, three times legislator C. Raveendranath and CPM backed independent K.T. Jaleel. State committee member P. Sreeramakrishnan will be the Speaker.
Apart from Mr Mani, two-time minister S. Sarma has also been excluded from the list of ministers. Three CPM ministers in Achuthanandan ministry Thomas Issac, G. Sudhakaran and A.K. Balan will find place in Pinarayi's ministry.
There will be eight new faces in the state Cabinet including two women. Even though the selection of ministers in the CPM was a smooth affair , no consensus could be made in the NCP over the choice of party minister.
Though NCP leader Praful Patel, who is in charge of the state, had reached here on Sunday to sort out the issue, his attempts failed. NCP have two MLAs A.K. Saseendran and Thomas Chandy. Both staked their claim for the minister’s post, it was suggested to share the minister’s term between them. Following this, Praful Patel who reached the AKG centre told the CPM leaders that he would inform them about NCP ministers the next day after making a final decision over it.
