The Kerala Congress (Jacob) has strongly opposed the moves to re-induct Ganesh Kumar as a Minister in the Oommen Chandy government.
A leadership meeting of the party, held here on Tuesday, pointed out that the return of Ganesh Kumar as Minister would seriously affect the image of the UDF government.
The meeting also opposed the moves to provide two Cabinet slots to the Kerala Congress (B) and wanted a proportionate number of slots. It felt that the internal problems of the Congress had become a major hurdle to the functioning of the UDF and wanted the high command of the party to intervene and settle matters. It did not help the image of the coalition at a time when it was celebrating its second anniversary
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Kerala Congress (Jacob) chairman Johnny Nellore said the party held the view that the issues that led to Ganesh Kumar’s resignation were still relevant. He said he expected the Chief Minister to take a politically correct decision on this and his party would accept any decision taken after discussions with all leaders of the coalition.
In reply to a question, he said the party was above the individual and it was empowered to nominate and withdraw ministers from the Ministry.
Mr. Pillai had reportedly staked his claim for the re-induction of his son. But that alone did not clear the way for his return because Mr. Pillai’s demand to remove his son from the Cabinet went unheeded for more than a year, he said.
The Kerala Congress (Jacob) registered its protest against the manner in which new taluks were formed.
It wanted the government to consider the formation of a separate taluk for Piravom.