Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and several of his Cabinet colleagues leave for Delhi this morning to take up various developmental needs of the State with Central Ministers.
The Chief Minister and Industries Minister P. K. Kunhalikutty will be making a stopover in Hyderabad to address the annual summit of Confederation of Indian Industry on Sustainable private-public partnerships in infrastructure. Finance Minister K. M. Mani, Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed, Minister for rural Development and Planning K. C. Joseph, Agriculture Minister K. P. Mohanan and Minister for Panchayats and Social Welfare M. K. Muneer are flying directly to Delhi.
The Chief Minister will be meeting several Central Ministers including Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A. K. Antony and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. They would not be able to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as planned before since both are on foreign tour.
The State ministers will be taking up a long list of demands with the Union Ministers including higher allocation of grains for public distribution, eco-restoration programme for Attappady, clearance of schemes for disaster management and Central investment in various sectors.
Mr. Chandy would also be holding discussions with Congress leaders in Delhi on reconstitution of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and district committees. KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and UDF convenor P. P. Thankachan will also be in Delhi for the talks.
The plans of Mr. Chandy and ministers to meet Central Ministers last month had been postponed to this week in view of fast by Anna Hazare.
