THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The LDF government which will be sworn in on Thursday will be more inclusive in nature compared to the previous LDF government. Despite having a clear majority of their own, CPM and CPI have decided to accommodate almost all parties in the front. To facilitate that, four of the single-MLA parties have been asked to share two cabinet berths equally, it is learnt.
The strength of the cabinet will be 21, the maximum possible number, considering the total strength of the assembly. In the 2016 cabinet, the only member from the single-MLA parties was Ramachandran Kadannappally of Congress (S). The CPM will have 12 ministers including the chief minister; CPI will have four and Kerala Congress (M), NCP and JD(S) one each in the cabinet.
Loktantrik Janata Dal (S) will be the only LDF constituent that will be left out of the cabinet as the CPM still insists that they consider JD(S) and LJD as a single unit. The request by RSP(L) MLA Kovoor Kunjumon for a cabinet berth has also been turned down as the party is not a constituent of the LDF. On Sunday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and senior CPM leaders met representatives of all constituents separately.
The Kerala Congress (Mani) reiterated its demand for two cabinet berths, citing that they have five MLAs and they are the third largest constituent in the front. It is learnt that the CPM told party leader Jose K Mani that instead of the second minister, they would be given the chief whip post with cabinet rank.
The JD(S) and NCP couldn’t name their nominees as the national leaderships of both parties haven’t made up their mind. K Krishnankutty and Mathew T Thomas have staked claim for the post in the JD(S) while A K Saseendran and Thomas K Thomas are fighting for the single berth allotted to NCP.
According to sources, the CPM and CPI have suggested KC(B) and Congress (S) to share one cabinet berth and DKC and INL to share one. That means K B Ganesh Kumar and Ramachandran Kadannappally will share a cabinet berth for 30 months each while Antony Raju and Ahamed Devarkovil will share the second berth for 30 months.
On Monday, the LDF state committee will meet to finalise the structure of the cabinet and the turns of rotation. The JD(S) national leadership will declare the party’s nominee on Monday while NCP will declare its nominee on Tuesday.
The KC(M) is likely to assign Roshy Augustine as the minister while the chief whip post may be given to N Jayaraj. On Monday, the KC(M) parliamentary party elected Roshy Augustine as its leader and N Jayaraj as the deputy leader. The CPM and CPI state committees will meet on Tuesday to finalise their nominees in the cabinet.
The LDF leadership also decided to go ahead with the swearing-in ceremony scheduled at the Central Stadium here on May 20. Considering the Covid-19 situation and triple lockdown, the number of attendees will be limited to 200 to 300. All attendees need to carry the RT-PCR test negative certificates with then. N95 masks will also be mandatory to enter the venue. The LDF legislative party will meet on Wednesday to formally select Pinarayi Vijayan as its leader. Pinarayi will then visit Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to stake claim to form the government formally.