NCP-SP decides to replace Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran with Thomas K. Thomas in Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet

Thomas had recently publicly staked his claim to replace Saseendran in the Cabinet, stirring a rebellion in the NCP-SP. Chief Minister likely to take the final decision

Signalling a possible reshuffle in the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet, State president of the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) P.C. Chacko said the party’s national leadership has resolved to supplant Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran with Kuttanad MLA Thomas K. Thomas in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.

Mr. Chacko told reporters that he, Mr. Saseendran, and Mr. Thomas would meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on October 3 and communicate national president Sharad Pawar’s decision. 

Mr. Thomas had recently publicly staked his claim to replace Mr. Saseendran in the Cabinet, stirring a rebellion in the NCP-SP.

Subsequently, a delegation of NCP-SP leaders from Kerala, led by Mr. Chacko, met Mr. Pawar in Mumbai last week.

Mr. Saseendran said he would accept Mr. Pawar’s decision. According to an LDF insider, if he relinquished his ministerial portfolio for Mr. Thomas, Mr. Saseendran could seek political accommodation as the NCP-SP State president.

A faction in the NCP-SP had lobbied for Mr. Thomas’s elevation to the Cabinet to keep the Christian community in Alappuzha, a crucial electoral block, in the LDF fold ahead of the local body elections in 2025.

Moreover, the NCP-SP hoped to retain the Kuttanad Assembly segment in the 2026 Kerala Legislative Assembly polls and calculated that Mr. Thomas’s Cabinet post could help keep the constituency with the LDF in 2026.

Nevertheless, an LDF source said that Mr. Vijayan would take the final call. Whether the Chief Minister would supplant Mr. Saseendran with Mr. Thomas for the remaining LDF term remained a matter of conjecture. However, he pointed out that the CPI(M) had rarely rejected LDF partners’ demands for political accommodations to keep the alliance intact.

Given Mr. Vijayan’s constitutional prerogative as Chief Minister, the LDF would discuss the possible reshuffle and leave the final decision to him. With the Kerala Legislative Assembly convening on October 4, a Cabinet reshuffle, if at all, might be delayed. 

Published - September 28, 2024 02:55 pm IST