NCP MLA stakes claim for ministerial post
A DAY after two new ministers took oath in Kerala based on a agreement reached in 2021 in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), legislator Thomas K. Thomas on Saturday wrote to the Left convenor that a similar agreement was there in the Kerala unit of Nationalist Congress Party, report online news sites quoting IANS.
NCP is an ally of the CPI-M-led LDF.
Thomas in a letter to the Left convenor E.P.Jayarajan pointed out that just as there was an agreement in the ruling front in May 2021, when the second Pinarayi Vijayan government took office, there was an in-principle decision to share cabinet posts among the parties having single MLAs and on Friday it became true.
Following it, Antony Raju and Ahamed Deverkovil stepped down and KB Ganesh Kumar and Kadanapally Ramachandran came in.
Thomas, a first-time legislator and one of the two NCP legislators, in his letter, states that in their party in 2021, it was agreed that A.K.Saseendran would be the party’s nominee in the cabinet for 30 months after which Thomas would replace him.
Thomas has been pointing out that his party leadership consisting of national president Sharad Pawar and others had come to an understanding that Saseendran and he will share the ministership for the agreed term.
Incidentally, for a while, the state unit of the NCP is divided between Saseendran and state party president P.C. Chacko (who left the Congress party in 2019) on one side and Thomas on the other.
Recently, Thomas was warned against airing party issues in public domain by Pawar, who asked him to bring them up only in the party forums.
Thomas, who won from the Kuttanad Assembly constituency in Alappuzha, is the brother of businessman-turned former legislator Thomas Chandy. Chandy was a State Minister who won thrice but passed away while being a legislator in 2019.
The state NCP decided to give Chandy’s seat to Thomas at the 2021 Assembly elections which he won comfortably.
Things have not been smooth for Thomas as many in the NCP feel he should not have been given the seat and ever since his victory and with the arrival of Chacko, he has been feeling the heat.
And now it remains to be seen if Thomas gets the party’s nod to replace Saseendran. However, as things stand, it might be a remote possibility.
