Thiruvananthapuram: CPM central committee member E.P. Jayarajan will be sworn in as minister on Tuesday taking the strength of the LDF ministry to 20.
Governor P Sathasivam will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Jay-arajan at a function to be held at Raj Bhavan at 10 am. Jayarajan was forced to quit Pinarayi Cabinet in October 2016 after the state secretariat found lapses on his part in appointing Sre-emathy’s son P.K. Sudheer as KSIE MD.
In his second innings, 68-year-old Jayarajan will ha-ndle industries, commerce, youth affairs and sports. His induction into the ministry has led to a minor reshuffle in the portfolios of other ministers.
A.C. Moideen will have local bodies (panchayats, municipalities and corporations), rural developme-nt, town planning regional development authority and KILA. Local bodies minister K.T. Jaleel will get higher education. He will retain welfare of minorities, wakf board and Haj pilgrimage.
With Jayarajan's induction, the number of ministers from Kannur district will go up to 4. Kannur is followed by Alappuzha district which has three members in Pinarayi Cabinet.
The chief minister is likely to hand over the charge to Jayarajan before leaving for the US for medical check up. Pinarayi is scheduled to travel to US on August 19 for a 17-day treatment at the reputed Mayo Clinic. It may be recalled that while quashing the vigilance case in Septem-ber 2017, the High Court had criticised the VACB asking why such cases which would not withstand judicial scrutiny are filed. The VACB had earlier informed the court that the offences against Jayarajan may not stand. The former minister had asked the central leadership to defer the disciplinary action till VACB completed its probe.
UDF calls it immoral, to boycott EP swearing in
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Monday said the UDF would boycott the swearing in ceremony of E.P. Jayarajan .
At a press conference here, Chennithala said the decision to reinduct Jaya-rjan in ministry amounted to political immorality. He said the decision could not be justified in any manner.
The Opposition leader took a dig at the CPM and CPI on the issue of appo-inting Government Chief Whip with cabinet rank. “The CPI which spoke of idealism, after failing to get fifth minister, has audaciously settled for the post of chief whip,” he said.
Chennithala recalled that when P.C. George was app-ointed chief whip, the CPM and CPI had unleashed a tirade against the UDF Government accusing it of extravagance and waste of public money. “They sho-uld say sorry with retrospective effect for misleading the people,” he added.
The CPI’s true face has been exposed now. During the UDF government’s ten-ure the number of posts with Cabinet rank was 25 and now with the Chief Whip Post being created, the LDF government has also touched the same figure. The Opposition leader said the LDF while coming to power had claimed that it would restrict the number of ministers to 19. Parliamentary affairs minister A.K. Balan had told Assembly that by keeping the ministry at 19 the government had earned '7.5 crore annually .
He accused the LDF Government of removing 10 lakh beneficiaries from the social welfare pension schemes at the behest of party leaders. The local comrades have conducted a biased survey on the basis of which people have been removed from the beneficiary list.
The UDF has decided to picket state government and central government offices on September 15 to protest against the ‘anti people’ policies of the state and central governments .
