Karunakaran men bag major portfolios

By Girish Menon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 26. The Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony's portfolio allocation to the Congress nominees in his Cabinet is likely to leave many hearts burning. At the end of the day, the new Finance and Excise Minister, Mr. K. Sankaranarayanan, has emerged as the number two in the Cabinet. But that is unlikely to console some of the Antony camp followers as Mr. K. Karunakaran's nominees have walked away with major portfolios of Electricity, Tourism, Health and Fisheries.

What is surprising about the portfolio distribution is that Mr. Antony has virtually sidelined two of his camp followers, Dr. M. A Kuttappan and Mr. M. M. Hassan. The former would have to be satisfied with Scheduled Castes and Tribal Welfare Development while the latter with Parliamentary Affairs, Norka and a few extra subjects. Of this, Parliamentary Affairs at least appears to be an insignificant subject, while there is nothing much a Minister could do with Norka, other than liaise with foreign embassies and the External Affairs Ministry.

That Mr. Sankaranarayanan would be his number two was clear during the roll call for the swearing in ceremony. The usual practice of inviting Ministers as per the alphabetical order of their names was given the go by, with Mr. Sankaranarayanan being sworn in first. This was just a bonus, but the real thing came when Mr. Sankaranarayanan was given the two most difficult subjects, Finance and Excise, along with a few minor ones to handle. Obviously, he has been chosen for the job mainly on the basis of his clean record and his reputation of standing on his own feet in politics.

Mr. Antony has preferred to keep the Home portfolio with him, but it was saved from being handed over to Mr. Karunakaran's nominee, thanks to the new UDF convener, Mr. Oommen Chandy's decision to opt out of the Cabinet. Mr. Antony would have been forced to shed Home in favour of a Karunakaran loyalist. Mr. Antony needs to thank Mr. Chandy from helping him avoid a major controversy.

Contrary to the general belief that he would allot Electricity to his camp followers, since the sector needs some close and personal monitoring, Mr. Antony has bought peace by handing it over to Mr. Kadavoor Sivadasan, a Karunakaran loyalist. Tourism, which is believed to be one major sector which could give a fillip to Kerala's overall development, has also been given to Mr. Karunakaran's most well-known loyalist, Prof. K. V. Thomas.

The fourth group representative, Mr. K. Sudhakaran, could very well feel happy at being entrusted with Forest and Sports, along with a few other subjects. For a person who led the fight into the Marxist camp in Kannur, he has every reason to feel rewarded with the portfolio. The third group's Mr. G. Karthikeyan has the most difficult Civil Supplies. He is sure to have his hands full given the precarious fate of the rationing system in the State. With the price-line playing truant, Mr. Karthikeyan would have to navigate several pitfalls while handling the market intervention operations under the auspices of the Civil Supplies Corporation. He would be most happy to get Cultural Affairs.

Mr. Sankaran, a debutant in the Assembly at least, is still an unknown entity, but would certainly bring his own Malabar wisdom in the handling of the subject. He would face several challenges in the context of the general financial crunch, as a result of which the health sector has been a casualty.

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Section  : Southern States
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