Kerala: CPI(M), CPI finalise list of ministers; 12 new faces

Thiruvananthapuram, May 23: CPI(M) and CPI, two major parties in the Left Democratic Front, which was voted to power in the May 16 assembly polls in Kerala, on Monday finalised its list of ministers, 12 of them being new faces. Of the total 19 ministers in the state cabinet, CPI(M) will have 12, including Chief Minister, CPI four, Janata Dal (S), NCP and Cong(S) one each.

There are eight new faces, including two women, in the CPI(M) list. Dr Thomas Issac, A K Balan and G Sudhakaran, in the list, were members of the 2006-11 cabinet headed by V S Achuthanandan.

The new faces are E P Jayarajan, K K Shailaja, T P Ramakrishnan, Kadakampally Surendran, A C Moitheen, J Mercykutty Amma, Prof C Raveendranath and Dr K T Jaleel. P Sreeramakrishnan will be the new Speaker.

The CPI(M) State committee met here today and took a final decision on the names of the 11 ministers and Speaker, a statement released by the CPI(M) said.

All the CPI ministers are new faces--E Chandrasekharan, V S Sunil Kumar, P Thilothaman and K Raju. P Sashi will be the Deputy speaker.

C Divakaran and Mullakara Ratnakaran, who were ministers in the LDF ministry in 2006-11, failed to get berth this time.

Announcing the CPI list, State secretary Kannam Rajendran told reporters that there was nothing new in fielding new faces now, as in 2006 also the party had followed the same pattern.

The CPI State Executive and State committee met today and ratified the names of the new ministers.

"We wanted to select new faces and all of them have experience as members in the assembly," he said when asked about the reported unhappiness of Divakaran and Ratnakaran not being made ministers. "There will be no issues, do not anticipate any trouble," he told reporters.

PTI