G. Karthikeyan of Congress elected Kerala speaker

Thiruvananthapuram, June 2 : The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala survived its first acid test in the house Thursday when party veteran G. Karthikeyan was elected speaker of the 13th assembly.

The 62-year-old six-time Congress legislator defeated opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) nominee and former electricity minister A.K. Balan by five votes. Karthikeyan got 73 votes while Balan got 68 votes.

The voting was coordinated by protem speaker Saktan Nadar of the Congress and 141 members of the assembly participated, including the one nominated Anglo-Indian member of the Congress party.

Chandy, leader of opposition V.S. Achuthanandan and other party leaders complimented the new speaker.

The house was adjourned for the day and will now meet for the budget session beginning June 24.

A two-time former minister, Karthikeyan was left out of the 20-member Oommen Chandy cabinet. The UDF government came to power last month.

--IANS

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Kerala Congress charge against Govt

Kochi, Jun 1 : Kerala Congress Chairman P C Thomas today alleged that before settling down, the newly-formed Congress-led United Democratic Front Government was trying to scuttle the corruption cases levelled against some of the Ministers in the Cabinet.

Talking to reporters here, he warned that the move of the government to protect the accused in the Ministry by winding up the cases against them would invite the ire of the common man.

Pointing out that the decision of the government to appoint certain accused persons, who faced allegation of corruption and sexual harassment, was a mark of gratitude for their help, he said the people in the state would realise this and the government could not escape from them.

The first effort of the newly-formed government was to protect those who involved in corruption and sexual harassment cases, he charged.

Making it clear that the Kerala Congress had no plan to amalgamate with the Kerala Congress (Mani), the Former MP said that his party would stick with the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front.

Mr Thomas also said that the State Committee of his party evaluated the elections results, as all the three party nominees, including Former Minister V Surendran Pillai who contested from the Thiruvananthpuram constituency, tasted defeat in the elections.

--UNI

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Murmurs in Congress over Kerala cabinet selection

Thiruvananthapuram, May 29: The Congress party's Kerala unit has overlooked merit and experience in selecting its nine ministers in the 20-member Oomen Chandy cabinet, a senior party legislator said Sunday.

"One of the best performing legislator from the Congress in the past five years was V.D. Sateeshan. His performance has been applauded by one and all. But when it came to selecting ministers, he was not considered," three time Congress legislator T.N. Prathapan said.

This is not the first time questions have been raised regarding the ministerial selections in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government.

K. Muraleedharan, son of late Congress veteran K. Karunakaran, and senior party leader V.M. Sudheeran too have criticised the choice of ministers.

The UDF has 72 members and the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) 68 in the Kerala assembly, giving the ruling coalition only a slender majority.

--IANS

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