Joining party won't ensure ministerial berth: Kerala NCP

Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Kerala chief T.P. Peethambaran on Tuesday made it clear that anybody joining the party should not do so with an intention to become a minister.

The NCP in Kerala is an ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and has two legislators and one of them holds a cabinet berth.

But, while A.K. Saseendran had to quit early last year following a TV channel expose of his "sleaze" phone call with a lady journalist, NRI businessman-turned-politician Thomas Chandy had to quit in November over alleged land encroachment by the plush resort his company owns in Alappuzha.

Both Saseendran and Chandy were expecting to get exonerated in the cases that they are embroiled in, but things have failed to go their way until now and indications are that it could take a while before the dust settles down.

This forced a section of the NCP leadership to commence informal talks with legislators like K.B. Ganesh Kumar of Kerala Congress(B) and Kovoor Kunjumon of the RSP(L). Both parties are only friendly allies and hence they were not given cabinet berths.

The first to enter into talks was Kumar, but for some reason that failed to work out and soon came news that Kunjumon, a four-time legislator, could be tapped.

But things took a turn, when both Saseendran and Chandy and their respective supporters in the party joined hands and strongly opposed the move, knowing fully well that their chances would be gone for ever, even if they got exonerated.

Finally, Peethambaran on Tuesday cleared the party's stand before the media, saying all were welcome to join the party, but no one should come with the intention of becoming a minister.

"We have not entrusted anyone to initiate talks with anyone. At the moment, party membership campaign is on and hence anyone can join our party," he said.

According to informed sources, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has told Peethamabaran that they should make their decision fast, and now with the latter making things clear, a new minister from the CPI-M would most likely be sworn in shortly.

Meanwhile, terming the news of his party merging with the NCP as "totally false", Kunjumon said some sort of conspiracy was going on against him.

"At no point of time has there has been any sort of discussion on this aspect and any news in this regard is false," said Kunjumon.

--IANS

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