A K Saseendran of NCP gets ministerial berth

Thiruvananthapuram: NCP leader AK Saseendran will be the party’s representative in the state cabinet, said state president Uzhavoor Vijayan on Tuesday.

Vijayan rejected reports that Saseendran would be sharing the minister post with another party leader.

A native of Chovva in Kannur district, Saseendran won the election from Elathur constituency.

Talking to the media, he thanked the party leadership and said he would do his duty as minister with complete responsibility.

Of the total 19 ministers in the state cabinet, CPI-M will have 12, including Chief Minister, CPI four, Janata Dal (S), NCP and Cong(S) one each.

There are eight new faces, including two women, in the CPI-M list. Dr Thomas Issac, A K Balan and G Sudhakaran, in the list, were members of the 2006-11 cabinet headed by V S Achuthanandan.

The new faces are E P Jayarajan, K K Shailaja, T P Ramakrishnan, Kadakampally Surendran, A C Moitheen, J Mercykutty Amma, Prof C Raveendranath and Dr K T Jaleel.

P Sreeramakrishnan will be the new Speaker.

All the CPI ministers are new faces--E Chandrasekharan, V S Sunil Kumar, P Thilothaman and K Raju.

P Sashi will be the Deputy speaker.