Oommen Chandy off to Delhi, Cabinet shuffle likely in early August

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The stage is set for a cabinet reshuffle in early August although Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters that he was leaving for New Delhi on Thursday to hold talks with five union ministers and not for a cabinet reshuffle. In his post-cabinet briefing, he said  he would first hold talks with PCC chief V. M. Sudheeran, Home Minister  Ramesh Chennithala and UDF convener P. P. Thankachan and later with the AICC leadership about the cabinet changes.  A section of Congress leaders believes that Mr Chandy had masterminded Speaker G. Karthikeyan’s decision to step down from the post. Mr Karthikeyan will be inducted into the cabinet  to undermine Mr Chennithala’s position as number two minister, it is learnt.

“Since the Lok Sabha election results have  come in favour of Chandy, the AICC will not interfere in his decision on the cabinet shuffle and he will be given a free hand,” a KPCC leader told  DC.

Mr K. Muraleedharan MLA arrived in  New Delhi on Wednesday and was expected to call on Congress president Sonia Gandhi  on Thursday or Friday. He told DC that he had  been planning to call on Mrs. Gandhi since announcement of the  Lok Sabha election results.

“But due to the 27-day Assembly session, I had to postpone a trip to Delhi,” he  said.

Congress spokesperson Pandalam Sudhakaran took a jibe at Mr Muraleedharan saying he will excel as Speaker just like his earlier performances as presidents of KPCC, NCP and  DIC  and later as  MLA.

“Muraleedharan is not in Delhi as a representative of the ‘I’ faction. The cabinet shuffles during  Karunakaran’s tenures in 1982 and 1991 and A.K. Antony’s in 2004 had not yielded any gains for the Congress as well as the UDF. So Chandy’s move for a cabinet reshuffle will be a gamble due to the forthcoming  local body elections,”  Mr Pandalam told DC.