Thiruvananthapuram: NCP state president Uzhavoor Vijayan will formally meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Friday to convey the approval of the party’s national committee to induct Mr Thomas Chandy in the cabinet. Mr Uzhavoor Vijayan met the chief minister informally at the central railway station here on Wednesday night to convey the central leadership’s decision. However, Mr Pinarayi who was on his way to Kasargod asked the NCP leadership to meet him in the capital on Friday. “Our delegation will meet him either at the Cliff House or in his secretariat office tomorrow. We have full faith in the chief minister,” he said.
Once the letter is delivered to the chief minister, it is for him to take a decision. Ahead of that, the LDF state committee will also discuss the matter and give its approval, Mr Uzhavoor Vijayan said. Was he expecting to get a new minister by next week? “Well, we want a minister in the LDF government at the earliest. Even on earlier occasions when ministers had to resign due to various reasons, the LDF chose the leaders of the same party. The practice was followed in the case of cabinet berth for Mons Joseph after P.J. Joseph’s resignation in the previous Achuthanandan government or M.M. Mani after E.P. Jayarajan’s resignation,” he said.
The Kuttanad MLA was unanimously chosen to replace Mr Saseendran who resigned after an audio clip of a sexually explicit conversation between him and a woman was aired by a local TV channel on Sunday. When asked why the NCP leadership was not keen on filing a police complaint or a separate petition in Mr Saseendran’s issue, the NCP state president said that he had full faith in the judicial commission. “We stand by the LDF government decision. At the moment we are not in favour of parallel investigations by different agencies. It might create confusion. So let us wait for a detailed probe by the commission,” he said.
