Controversies one after the other have marred the image of the UDF Government, felt a meeting of the IUML secretariat held here on Thursday, which also opined that the good work of the government should not be submerged in it and the UDF should stay united.
The meet also decided not to raise the ‘deputy chief minister’ issue, toning down the stand of the party on Wednesday, going by the stand of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy that it was not discussed in the Congress so far nor there would be any such thing without taking coalition partners into confidence. Briefing mediapersons later, E T Mohammed Basheer MP said that the IUML was not for discussing a ‘’non-issue’’ like the ‘’deputy CM post.’’
‘’What the League had demanded yesterday was based on media reports. We maintained that the UDF should discuss whether a deputy CM was needed now or not and, if needed, who should be appointed,’’ he said. Without diluting the IUML demand, Mohammed Basheer stressed that in the event of creation of the ‘’Deputy CM’’ post, the party would stake claim to it.
‘’It cannot be surrendered to any other party. But it is pointless now to discuss it since it has been made clear that the topic was not deliberated nor under consideration,’’ he said.
‘’A responsible political party cannot react on the basis of an imaginary issue,’’ he added. The IUML secretariat meet has also decided to go by the decision of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on the re-induction of K B Ganesh Kumar into the Cabinet.
