Ramesh Chennithala, president, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), has left a decision on his appointment as a Minister to the Congress high command.
Mr. Chennithala told presspersons here on Thursday that the party had not been holding discussions on his entry into the Cabinet, but if the high command took a decision, no Congress worker could reject it.
Earlier, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had asked him to join the Cabinet, but he did not take the offer. A Cabinet reshuffle was the Chief Minister’s prerogative, and he had no role in it. No discussions had been held on filling the Cabinet berth that had fallen vacant following the resignation of K.B. Ganesh Kumar. As KPCC president, he was bound to make the party ready for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Asked about the criticism raised by community organisations such as the Nair Service Society and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, Mr. Chennithala said the Congress shared a warm relation with them and would hear their opinions on various issues, but would not yield to all their demands. The party was not for a confrontation with such organisations.
The Kerala Yatra taken up by him from Kasaragod from April 18 had elicited a warm public response. This was proof of the popularity of the slogan raised at the Yatra, the commitment of the party to the people and the welfare measures initiated by the Union and the State governments.
The complaints and petitions received at the Yatra would be submitted to the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister. The public donations received would be used to form a corpus to help ailing, indigent Congress workers who had dedicated their life for the party.
The Congress was working out a development strategy beyond politics.
