Portfolios after Cabinet expansion

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 25. The Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, said here today that the allocation of portfolios of the Congress nominees in his Cabinet would be made after the Cabinet expansion, scheduled to be held here on Saturday.

Talking to presspersons on his return from Delhi, Mr. Antony said he was determined to exercise his prerogative as Chief Minister while allocating portfolios. The portfolios would be allocated any time after the swearing-in ceremony, he added.

Asked whether he would follow the consensus approach he had been pursuing all the while in the matter of portfolio allocation also, Mr. Antony said he had no intention to be indiscriminate while choosing his team from among the Congress nominees, but he would exercise his prerogative in allocating portfolios as has been the convention in the party so far.

Mr. Antony said he was not fully satisfied with the list of nominees cleared by the party high command. ``As far as possible, efforts have been made to ensure adequate representation to various sections. There have been lapses in giving regional representation. Four districts do not have a representative in the Cabinet. The lack of women nominees from the Congress is also a major lapse. Similarly, several of my associates have been left out,'' Mr. Antony said and added that these exclusions were not intentional and the only option he had was to make the best out of the situation.

Mr. Antony said he regretted his inability to include Mr. Oommen Chandy in the Cabinet. But Mr. Chandy's decision to opt out was an important factor in the smooth resolution of the Congress Ministers list. Mr. Antony also stated that Mr. Chandy would take over as UDF convener.

He refused to buy the contention that he had chosen an inexperienced team. ``It is a mix of old and new hands. But all those who have been chosen have made a mark in their respective fields of activity,'' he observed.

An official release here said that the swearing-in of new Ministers of the UDF Government will take place on the Raj Bhavan premises at 11.45 a.m. on Saturday. The Governor, Mr. S. S. Kang, will administer the oath of office.

The new Ministers are Mr. K. Sankaranarayanan, Mr. M.M. Hassan, Dr. M.A. Kuttappan, Prof. K.V. Thomas, Mr. P. Sankaran, Mr. Kadavoor Sivadasan, Mr. G. Karthikeyan, Mr. K. Sudhakaran, Mr. C.F. Thomas, Dr. M.K. Muneer, Mr. Nalakath Soopy and Mr. Cherakkalam Abdullah. Eight Ministers, including the Chief Minister, had been sworn in earlier.

The Chief Minister said he had met the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, and brought to their notice the precarious financial situation in the State. He said he had not approached the Centre with any specific proposals to bail out the State, but had emphasised the point that the State alone would not be able to overcome the crisis and the support of the Centre was necessary. The Chief Minister said that the Union Finance Minister's response was positive and he had assured all help to Kerala in the event of any crisis.

He said that at the Chief Minister's conference, he had opposed the moves to undermine the rationing system. Kerala had urged the Centre to retain the rationing system irrespective of its policies. ``These are times of surplus. But in times of crisis, it would not be possible for the State to launch a procurement programme as in other States,'' he added.

The Chief Minister said he had made a plea for a technology mission for coconut. He had also urged the Centre to ensure that coir and rubber were classified as agriculture commodities in the next round of WTO negotiations.

Asked about his statement of inviting BJP to all meetings convened by the Government, Mr. Antony said that his Government had no intention of creating two classes of citizens. There was no question of adopting a negative attitude towards the BJP, he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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