Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and CM Oomen Chandy tiff over cabinet shuffle

Thiruvananthapuram: Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who is also the ‘I’ group honcho, is on a last-ditch effort to prevent a shuffle or expansion of the Cabinet, for which CM Oommen Chandy has got the nod from the high command.

Mr Chennithala is expected to meet the high command and urge the leadership against upsetting the existing configuration in the Council, in which the ‘I’ group has the upper in the number of Minister and handling plum portfolios, especially Home and Revenue.

The shuffle or expansion, aimed at the re-induction of former Cinema Minister K B Ganesh Kumar and aimed at correcting the group imbalance in the sharing of portfolios, is not likely till after the more-than-a-month-long Assembly session, starting on Monday.

It’s the CM’s prerogative to pick his team. Mr Chandy has the high command mandate to for the rejig his to ensure smooth sail for the remaining two years of the Government. This could have happened already but for KC (B) chairman R Balakrsihna Pillai’s threat to expose other Ministers if his son, Mr Ganesh Kumar, was not brought in.

The ‘I’ group is desperate to keep its Ministers and portfolios intact but that is not easy given that Mr Chandy has bolstered his position, pulling off a decent victory in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections.

The political reality is that with the Congress emaciated at the national level but Mr Chandy holding firm to his turf, he would call the shots, for now. Mr Chennithala is trying to do his best but it’s a question of time before Mr Chandy shuffles or expands his Cabinet.