19-member LDF Ministry to assume office tomorrow

Thiruvananthapuram, May 17: A 19-member Left Democratic Front (LDF) ministry headed by Communist Party Of India (Marxist) Politbureau member V S Achuthanandan will assume office in Kerala tomorrow.

The CPI(M), which headed the LDF, will have a major share of 12 ministerial berths, including the Chief Minister, the Communist Party of India four, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Janata Dal(S) and the Kerala Congress (J) one each.

The other three minor constituents of the LDF, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress (S) and the Kerala Congress (S) having one legislators each will have no representation in the Cabinet.

Besides the 12 ministers, the post of the Assembly Speaker will also go to the CPI(M).

Names of the ministers and the speaker except that of the Janata Dal (S) were formally announced by LDF Convener Paloli Mohammed Kutty at a news conference here today on the conclusion of a meeting of the LDF coordination committee.

Besides Mr Achuthanandan, the CPI(M) nominees in the Cabinet were Mr Paloli Mohammed Kutty, Mr Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Mr M A Baby, Dr T M Thomas Isaac, Mr A K Balan, Mrs P K Sreemathi, Mr P K Gurudasan, Mr S Sarma, Mr G Sudhakaran, Mr Elamaram Karim and Mr M Vijayakumar.

Former Minister K Radhakrishnan has been named for the post of Assembly Speaker.

Earlier, Governor R L Bhatia invited Mr Achuthanandan to form the government consequent on his election as leader of the CPI(M) Parliamentary party.

The CPI nominees to the Cabinet were Mr K P Rajendran, Mr Binoy Viswom, Mr C Divakaran and Mr Mullakkara Ratnakaran, while Mr P J Joseph and Mr N K Premachandran will represent the Kerala Congress(J) and the RSP respectively. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Central Stadium behind the State Secretariat at 1600 hrs tomorrow.

Mr Mohammed Kutty said he could not announce the name of the Janata Dal(S) nominee as the party was yet to finalise its representative in the Cabinet. A decision in this regard is expected by late in the evening.

Replying to questions, he said discussion on the portfolios of the ministers was continuing and they would be announced by tomorrow.

He said the general consensus was that constituents having one legislator each should not be given representation in the Cabinet and it was because of that the NCP and the Congress(S) were denied ministerial posts.

To another question, Mr Mohammed Kutty said no decision had been taken on the post of Deputy Speaker. It would be decided only after discussion in the LDF.

The CPI had named Mr Jose Baby as its nominee for the post yesterday.

UNI