Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Paloli says Ministry is of right size

Special Correspondent

`Achuthanandan not given Home for administrative convenience'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener Paloli Mohammed Kutty has defended the large size of the Cabinet saying that it is smaller in size as compared to the last United Democratic Front Cabinet. Briefing presspersons after an LDF State committee meeting here on Wednesday, Mr. Mohammed Kutty pointed out that the main criticism in 1996 when the size of the Cabinet was pegged at 14 was that the Ministers were overburdened with work and could not function effectively. The CPI(M) State committee took the decision to fix the size of the Ministry at 19 after taking this criticism as also the views aired by many through the media against having a large Cabinet, he explained. Mr. Mohammed Kutty said the decision to divest the Chief Minister of Home portfolio was taken for administrative convenience. There was nothing new in the measure as in the past too Chief Ministers had ruled without the Home portfolio. It was a matter of administrative convenience and there was no need to read anything more into it, he added.

On the decision to keep smaller parties such as the Congress (S) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) out of the Cabinet, the LDF convener said the decision was taken to avoid creating a bloated Cabinet. If the smaller parties were to be given representation in government, it would meant giving representation to all the three minor allies and that would have pushed up the size of the Cabinet further.

Asked about the presence of just two Muslim Ministers in the LDF Cabinet as against five in the previous Government, Mr. Mohammed Kutty said the number would have gone up if K.E. Ismail of the CPI had won the Assembly elections. Persons like Manjalamkuzhi Ali, K.T. Jaleel and P.T.A. Rahim were eminently qualified to become Ministers and the decision not to have more Muslim Ministers had nothing to do with their eligibility, he added.

He brushed aside the suggestion that the shape of the Cabinet would result in concentration of powers in the CPI(M). On the disputes in the LDF over portfolio allocation, he said it was natural for allies to stake claim to more important portfolios. To a question about the absence of any representation for districts such as Kottayam, which had given more seats to the LDF this time, Mr. Mohammed Kutty said it was true that the LDF could not give ample representation to some districts.

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