Chandy ministry expanded, CM keeps Home

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today expanded his Cabinet, inducting 15 more ministers, a team combining experience and young blood, in...

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today expanded his Cabinet, inducting 15 more ministers, a team combining experience and young blood, in a bid to revive the fortunes of the Congress-led United Democratic Front government ahead of the next State Assembly elections due in less than two years.

Despite a ‘‘boycott’’ by senior leader K. Karunakaran and his son Muraleedharan, irked by rejection of their proposals in the selection of ministers, the new ministers were sworn in at the Raj Bhavan.

Having installed the 20-member ministry, Chandy chose to hold Home, Non-Resident Keralite Affairs and Information, allocating Finance and Excise to senior party colleague Vakkom Purushothaman and Electricity to Aryadan Mohammed.

Story continues below this ad

UDF partners, the Muslim League, Kerala Congress-M, Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samiti (JSS), RSP-B and CMP retained the same portfolios they held in the Antony ministry. The Muslim League, however, changed two of its nominees.

The Congress got two additional Cabinet berths with the exclusion of the KC-B and KC-J from the ministry.

Other portfolios held by the Congress included Food and Civil Supplies (Adoor Prakash), Health (K.K. Ramachandran), Water Resources (Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan), Forests (K.P. Viswanathan), Tourism (K.C. Venugopal), Fisheries, Sports (Dominic Presentation), Transport (N. Sakthan) and Backward Classes and SC/ST Welfare (A.P. Anil Kumar).

Meanwhile, UDF convener P.P. Thankachan will hold discussions with the Chief Minister tomorrow. According to sources, the date of the next UDF meeting will be decided after tomorrow’s meeting.

Story continues below this ad

Irked over his exclusion from the Cabinet, Kerala Congress leader T.M. Jacob had demanded an immediate meeting of the UDF liaison committee. The meeting of the KPCC office-bearers scheduled to be held on September 7 has been postponed. The date of the next meeting is yet to be fixed.

SC on Waqf Act: Stay on clause that creator has to be practising Islam for 5 yrs

India18 min ago

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, provision requiring registration of Waqf by user, but paused the clause that states a person must be a practitioner of Islam for five years to create a Waqf until state governments frame relevant rules.

View all shorts

Live Blog