: Officials must implement the policy decisions of the government and should take care not to exceed their brief, said Minister for Excise, Fisheries and Ports K. Babu here on Tuesday.
He said the UDF government had always protected its officials and they were allowed more freedom under successive UDF governments than under the LDF governments. He said this in reply to a question on the recent transfer of Additional Director General of Police Jacob Thomas to the Police Construction Corporation, at a Meet-the-Press programme.
Mr. Babu claimed that the same official was not allowed to work with the police force during the previous LDF rule when he was the Director of Ports.
The Minister expressed confidence that the UDF would romp home in the elections to local bodies riding on the success of good governance by the institutions ruled by the UDF.
He said there was unity among the UDF cadre. The Minister did not take a serious view of the problem of proliferation of rebel candidates in the different parts of the State, including in the elections to the council of the Corporation of Cochin.
He pointed out that the LDF too had suffered the problem of rebels in many parts of the Corporation area. He said the rebels would not be treated softly though all the circumstances should be considered.
Mr. Babu said the move by the Bharatiya Janata Party to woo SNDP cadres would not work. The followers of Sree Narayana Guru in the State were secular minded and they would not follow the communal agenda set by the BJP
