The State committee of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) will take up on Tuesday the demand of the Kerala Congress faction led by P.C. Thomas for a berth in the Cabinet.
The Kerala Congress faction has formally handed over a letter to Front convener Vaikom Viswan staking claim. The letter was handed over to Mr. Viswan by the faction's general secretary George Sebastian here on Monday.
CPI(M) stance unclear
There is, however, no certainty that the faction will get a Cabinet berth as none of the front constituents have opened their mind on the issue. The CPI(M) has not spelt out its stand on the subject and is stated to be waiting to hear other constituents' opinion.
The party has already given additional charge of the Public Works Department that former Kerala Congress (Joseph) chairman P.J. Joseph used to hold, to Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac. There is little likelihood of the party divesting him of the portfolio now.
That would necessitate search for another department that could be given to the lone Kerala Congress (Thomas) legislator V. Surendran Pillai, a very difficult task. The CPI has informally told the KC (Thomas) leaders that they are not averse to Mr. Pillai being given a Cabinet berth. So has most other front constituents. But everybody is waiting to hear what the CPI(M) has to say.
The NCP, which has two MLAs, has not formally staked claim to a place in the Cabinet, but the fact that it has two legislators could be cited as an impediment to the KC (Thomas) faction being given a Cabinet berth. However, the KC (Thomas) faction leaders are optimistic that their case would get a favourable hearing from the LDF panel given the loyalty they had shown when Mr. Joseph took the Kerala Congress (Joseph) out of the LDF into the Kerala Congress (Mani) and UDF.
