Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will hold the transport portfolio for now. The NCP is unlikely to get a replacement for A.K. Saseendran though the party has got one more MLA in Thomas Chandy primarily because Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPM are not pleased with that choice. This was because Mr Chandy had made an announcement even before the Assembly elections that he would become the water resources minister annoying the CPM.
The LDF decided to give the water resources ministry to Janathadal (Secular) nominee Mathew T Thomas and gave NCP the transport portfolio after the elections. Mr Vijayan had even opposed giving Mr Chandy a berth in the cabinet and was instrumental in inducting Mr Saseendran. CPM had also opposed the decision of the NCP to share the singular ministerial post allotted to the party equally between its two MLAs with each one getting two-and-a-half years.
Mr Chandy, who is in Kuwait, is to return to the state on Monday and said he would take up the role of transport minister if the party and the Front demanded him to do so. He also opined that Mr Saseendran should not have resigned before anything could be proved. NCP national general secretary D.P. Thripady also had come out in support of a cabinet berth to Mr Chandy. Meanwhile NCP state president Uzhavoor Vijayan came to the defence of Saseendran stating that Saseendran's action was more graceful than the way former chief minister Oommen Chandy clung to his postion in the wake of the 'solar scam'.
