Two alliance leaders take oath as ministers in Kerala’s CPI(M)-led govt

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 29 (PTI) Ramachandran Kadannappally of Congress (S) and K B Ganesh Kumar of Kerala Congress (B) took the oath as ministers in Kerala’s CPI(M)-led LDF government on Friday.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered the oath of office to the new ministers in a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan lawns at 4 pm.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues, and leaders of Left alliance partners attended the ceremony.

The Congress-led UDF boycotted the ceremony in protest against the induction of Ganesh Kumar, who, according to them, conspired against its late leader and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the solar panel case.

Earlier, the Governor approved the state government’s proposal for the induction of two new ministers into the state cabinet.

On Sunday, the LDF announced a cabinet reshuffle and said that the new ministers would be sworn in on December 29.

Following the understanding among the partners in the LDF, Antony Raju of the Democratic Kerala Congress and Ahammad Devarkovil of the Indian National League resigned as Transport Minister and Ports Minister, respectively.

When the second LDF government assumed power in the state in May 2021, partners in the CPI(M)-led alliance had agreed to allocate cabinet berths to four single MLA parties on a “sharing the term” basis.

The decision to share the term was made citing constitutional clauses that restrict the cabinet to 21 members.