UDF meet skirts crucial decisions

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Anoop Jacob will have to wait for some more time to become a minister. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) will remain at the mercy of Congress high command for their fifth cabinet berth. R Balakrishna Pillai will have to wait for the mercy of the state Congress leadership to remove his son from the cabinet.
These are the outcomes of what was touted to be a crucial meeting of the United Democratic Front (UDF) held here on Wednesday."The decision on Anoop Jacob and Pillai's grievance will be decided in the state while the party high command will take a call on the IUML request," said UDF convener P P Thankachan after the meeting at the KPCC office.
The Congress's ploy is clear: it wants to delay the decisions for a few more days. Then, the Neyyattinkara bypoll will be announced.
Though Johnny Nellore of KC(J) wanted the front to fix a date for swearing in of Anoop Jacob, the Congress leaders said it could be finalised after resolving all the other issues. In the end chief minister Oommen Chandy was entrusted with the task of deciding a date.
Though Pillai explained his party's move to withdraw its nominee from the government, the UDF asked Chandy to discuss the issue with the leaders before taking a final decision. But Pillai insisted that the decision should be taken in a week.
The IUML team led by its national president E Ahamad along with P K Kunhalikutty stressed the need for their fifth cabinet berth and reminded the Congress of its promise. But the Congress leaders were unimpressed and made it clear that a decision on this cannot be taken now.
But the Congress decided to put the onus of deciding on IUML's demand on the party high command as it "involves expansion of the cabinet".It seems that thestate Congress leadership will resolve these issues only after the Neyyattinkara bypoll.