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Satheesan announces Kerala Cabinet ahead of swearing-in ceremony
Kerala Chief Minister-designate V D Satheesan has announced his ministerial team, including senior leaders Ramesh Chennithala, K Muraleedharan, and Sunny Joseph. Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan will be the Speaker and Shanimol Usman the Deputy Speaker. Satheesan emphasized that decisions considered social and regional balance within the coalition.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 17 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister-designate V D Satheesan on Sunday unveiled a 20-member cabinet ahead of the swearing-in of the new government and it comprises experienced leaders and 14 first-time ministers, including two women and as many from the Scheduled Caste community.
Allies, including IUML were accommodated in the Congress-led UDF cabinet, which will take oath tomorrow.
Addressing a press conference after submitting the list of ministers to Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at Lok Bhavan, Satheesan said the names were finalised after discussions among alliance leaders, taking into account social and regional balance within the coalition.
As many as 14 members of the cabinet are new faces.
The ministers announced include senior Congress leaders and former ministers Ramesh Chennithala, K Muraleedharan, and A P Anil Kumar, besides KPCC chief Sunny Joseph. Chennithala, incidentally, was in the CM race before AICC picked Satheesan.
Also read: IUML announces five ministers for Satheesan Cabinet in Kerala
Senior IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty, RSP leader Shibu Baby John, Kerala Congress leader Mons Joseph, and Kerala Congress (Jacob) leader Anoop Jacob will also be ministers.
All of them have served as ministers in the previous UDF government.
The new faces in the cabinet are C P John and IUML leaders N Shamsuddin, K M Shaji, P K Basheer, and V E Abdul Gafoor.
Congress leaders P C Vishnunadh, Roji M John, Bindu Krishna, T Siddique, K A Thulasi, and O J Janeesh are also among the first-timers.
The UDF has also decided to appoint senior legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan as Speaker of the Assembly, while Shanimol Usman will serve as Deputy Speaker.
Later, Satheesan’s office informed that Apu John Joseph, son of Kerala Congress chairman PJ Joseph, elected from Thodupuzha, will be the Chief Whip.
Satheesan said several deserving leaders could not be accommodated in the cabinet despite the Congress securing 63 seats, calling it one of the party’s biggest victories in the state.
"Let new faces come. There should be opportunity for all," he said.
When asked about the exclusion of some prominent names, he said there could be others who were equally or more deserving.
"However, when a party like Congress makes decisions, factors such as social and regional balance have to be considered. We have 63 MLAs after a historic victory, but could accommodate only 11 in the cabinet,” he said.
Regarding portfolio allocation, he said it was almost finalised and would be discussed further with alliance partners."Usually, portfolio details are submitted to the Governor after the swearing-in ceremony. We will submit them on Monday. After the Governor’s approval, it will be published as a gazette notification," he said.
He added that there was an understanding with alliance partners on portfolio sharing, and further discussions would be held.
Satheesan said senior Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and several chief ministers, are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
He added that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay has not confirmed his participation and may attend later.
He also said former Chief Minister and CPI (M) veteran Pinarayi Vijayan, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam, and IUML leaders are expected to attend.
He noted that while the previous cabinet had no SC ministers, the new cabinet includes two.
"In recent Congress history in Kerala, there have been only two women ministers, and a woman has also been selected for the Deputy Speaker post," he said.
On cabinet decisions, he said announcements would be made soon after the first meeting. "Whatever we promised will be implemented. We have come here to realise the aspirations of the people," he said.
Denying factional considerations, he said no Congress leader tried to influence the selection of ministers.
"What group is there in the list? No Congress leader influenced any person. The first list was prepared in just 10 minutes. Later discussions were held considering various factors,” he said.
He added that the cabinet list was prepared on Saturday evening and submitted to the governor on Sunday evening.
"It was possible due to cooperation within the Congress and alliance partners," he said.
Satheesan also denied differences with Kerala Congress (J) leader P J Joseph over cabinet allocation.
He added that representatives of the Sivagiri Mutt did not submit any list during their meeting earlier in the day.
The United Democratic Forum has won 102 of the 140 Assembly seats, with the Congress accounting for 63 MLAs.
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Source: EconomicTimes
Related Posts: Kerala Cabinet announcement,V D Satheesan swearing-in,UDF coalition leaders,Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan Speaker,Congress victory Kerala,regional representation in cabinet
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