The CPI has had windfall following the CPI(M) State leadership’s decision to bring back E.P. Jayarajan into the State Cabinet.
The party is set to get the Government Chief Whip’s post with Cabinet rank, which would take the total number of its nominees with Cabinet rank in the Pinarayi Vijayan government to five. The party now has three Ministers – E. Chandrasekharan, V.S. Sunil Kumar and K. Raju – and Deputy Speaker V. Sasi with Cabinet rank.
The LDF had not picked anyone for the Chief Whip post at the time of government formation, which has been a regular post with United Democratic Front (UDF) dispensations. At present, Mr. Jayarajan is the Chief Whip of the LDF parliamentary party and Mullakkara Rathnakaran its secretary. The decision to allot the Government Chief Whip post to CPI could, therefore, be seen as a mutual exchange. It may not be surprising if Mr. Rathnakaran, who was the Agriculture Minister in the V.S. Achuthanandan government, gets picked up to occupy the post.
The CPI can also take credit for having foregone a berth in the Cabinet in the larger interest of the alliance. Had the party insisted on getting one more berth in the Cabinet, its strength would have gone up to 21, a number that had come in for much criticism from the LDF, especially after the UDF went in for a ‘fifth Minister’ under pressure from the Indian Union Muslim League.
Now that CPI has not pressed for it, the size of the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet would remain 20, which would give LDF sufficient ground to defend any possible attack from its political rivals.
The development also shows that the channel of communication between leaders of the CPI(M) and CPI, often seen to be clogged, is fully open and the two parties are moving in complete tandem on key issues. The CPI(M) and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had a pressing need to re-induct Mr. Jayarajan before the Chief Minister’s departure to the US for treatment on August 19 and the CPI leadership was only ready to oblige them, taking its fair share of the bargain.
