Ahead of swearing-in, a day of meetings for Pinarayi

Ahead of Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony of Pinarayi Vijayan as the chief minister of Kerala, the CPM leader on Saturday met leaders of different parties.

The CPI, the second biggest constituent of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), commenced discussions on probable ministers in what is learnt to be a 19-member Cabinet. The CPM itself is set to open discussions on ministers during the next couple of days. Allies NCP and Congress (Secular) have also staked claims to ministerial berths. Senior CPM leaders T M Thomas Isaac, A K Balan and E P Jayarajan are among the minister probables.

Pinarayi had discussions with CPI State Secretary Kanam Rajendran. He also visited Oommen Chandy at his residence and invited him to the swearing-in ceremony. The BJP’s first ever MLA in the state O Rajagopal visited Pinarayi at the CPM headquarters in AKG Centre here.

Liquor policy
Kanam Rajendran on Saturday hinted at what the Left government has in store for the liquor policy formulated by the previous UDF government. “There will be a new policy. We believe that abstinence, and not prohibition, is going to work… it has been mentioned in the LDF manifesto as well,” Rajendran told reporters here.