'No need to create Deputy CM post in Kerala Cabinet'

Finance Minister and Chairman of Kerala Congress K M Mani today said there was no need to create a post of Deputy Chief Minister in the Cabinet as the UDF Government was doing well with the existing set up.
"There is no need to induct an MLA into the Cabinet designating him as Deputy Chief Minister. It is UDF's custom to discuss policy decisions before arriving at a final decision. There was no such discussion and so it is irrelevant to ask questions in this regard," Mani, also chairman of Kerala Congress(M), told reporters here.
To another query, he said all ministers are eligible to adorn the mantle of DCM, but hastened to add that all non-MLAs were also eligible to be ministers or DCM.

"Even non-MLAs are eligible to be ministers as they have six-months at their disposal to win the poll," he said.
Mani said there was no political relevance in him calling on Nair Service Society General Secretary at NSS headquarters in Perunna and SNDP General Secretary at Alapuzha while passing through these towns recently. He just had a "chat" with them and nothing more should be read into it, he said.
Leaders of the two outfits had charged the government with neglecting the interests of the majority (Hindu) community.
To a query on whether it was expedient to re-induct Ganesh Kumar into the Cabinet, Mani said, "There is no untowardness in it".

Kumar, an actor-turned-politician and lone KC(B) nominee in the UDF ministry, was forced to resign from the Cabinet last month after his wife lodged a police complaint of domestic violence against him.